Best way to transfer everything from one MBP to another? Migration Assistant or CCC?

[Star Nuts]

If using Migration Assistant, will my new MBP look exactly like my old one? Will all files be in the same place, will iTunes still be organized correctly, and how about system settings? The new MBP will probably still be on Lion. Would I have to upgrade to Mountain Lion first?

I downloaded the trial of Carbon Copy Cloner but it's kind of confusing. There's a few different methods to transfer files over and I would hate to jack up my new OS by cloning it wrong.

 

[FuNGi]

I've used both.

Migration Assistant is convenient when you by a new computer with the OS already installed or when you want to freshly instal the OS on a new harddrive and you have Time Machine. I can't recall if your system settings are copied over but I *think* they are not. Mostly. (I've heard of some issues when going from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion though).

CCC is what I just used with my new SSD. Everything was *exactly* as it was before. All I had to do was re-enter my Office:Mac key. This program also copies over the Recovery partition. Just use the default settings and say YES for coping the Recovery partition. Super Duper does not copy the Recovery partition

 

[Dark Void]

I would use whatever you would feel more comfortable using, perhaps look up some videos on YouTube or Google search some articles for assistance using CCC to make sure you have the correct settings enabled or disabled towards your preferences before you begin the process.

 

[-tWv-]

I use Migration Assistant if OSX is already installed

CCC if OSX is not installed on the new machine