Migrating to M1 or Copy + Install Apps?

[Robert McNewbie]

I am about to buy an M1 MBP. My current MBP is fully connected to iCloud. I use Office 365, MS Teams, but not their cloud.
I know that Migration Assistant should work trough wifi but I wonder if this way it will migrate unnecessary remains of old deleted apps etc.
The "manual" alternative I was thinking about:
1) All useful files (except Photos) copy to external SSD then copy to M1
2) Install apps from store
3) Configure apps, settings, printers
4) Connect M1 to icloud and sync Keychain, Photos, Reminders etc
5) Disconnect old MBP from iCloud and erase

Is the "manual" way closer to a "clean install" than using Migration Assistant? or it has no real benefits.

 

[Robert McNewbie]

I used iCloud for content migration to the new M1MBP.
On my 2018MBP TB was connected to iCloud: Drive, Photos, Keychain, Notes,Contacts, Reminders, Notes.
I selected normal setup for the M1MBP. The sync with iCloud started immediately after setup was completed. (I have a 200Mbps+ DL connection and it took about 4hrs for 50GB+ ). SW update to 11.1 kicked in about 30' later. It took about 25', 3-4 restarts with progress bar.
Then I installed MS Office from my Office365 account, Teams, Magnet, Google Earth, Haze over, Spark, Chrome.
I have to transfer "manually" the Google Earth files.
Hardware: during the setup process: BareBook with the power supply. Then I connected the LG Ultrafine 5K monitor as extended display, Logitech MX2S BT mouse, Bose QC35 II headphones. Screen mirroring to AppleTV 4K works OK.
So far everything is perfect. I want to buy AppleCare + but it seems they don't want my money in my country.

 

[Bending Pixels]

Do the "manual alternative". MicroSlop has so many additional add-on apps and crap that come with Office 365 - it doesn't migrate well at all.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Glad it worked for you, OP. I have read several posts on here from M1 users where Migration did not go as it should.

I always do a clean instal with my apps and personal files etc.

 

[DeanL]

Move everything manually. It'll be better as you won't be bringing over the garbage cache files, corrupted files etc. to your new machine.

 

[Zazoh]

I always set up a new device as new. I’ve see over the years less problems that way. A lot of people on this forum like to collect files tho and that’s okay too. New set ups seldom fail, migration attempts often do.

M1 Macbook Air Bricked? - Firmware Revive

Hi guys, I have a new M1 Air, I used migration assistant to transfer old data from MacBook. After 6 hours migration assistant still said '0 Files Transferred'. So I cancelled the transfer, the new MacBook Air screen when black & wouldn't respond, so I turned it off via the power button...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[jdb8167]

I normally just migrate from a previous machine but in the case of the M1 MacBook Air I decided against it. It seemed that a completely new hardware architecture and one that was in its first week of shipping, the potential problems were too great. And migrating manually gave me the ability to get rid of a lot of junk that I don't use any longer. It worked out very well and since most of my documents are in iCloud, it was mostly just configuring system settings, downloading a few applications, and entering registration keys.

 

[lixuelai]

I migrated using Time Machine from a 2013 MacBook Pro and its been good so far. I did do some manual cleanup but figured the bit of space I'd save is not worth the time it would take for me to set up everything again.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

In theory, I would support that a manual migration has many advantages. One main disadvantage is the time and work necessary to do so.

In practice, when I got my mew M1 Mac, I had very little time. Therefore I connected my old MBP with the fabulous Target Disk Mode and used Migration Assistant. It worked really well.

 

[newadventure]

I've migrated every machine I've had since 2008 and they've all been fine, including my latest m1 mac mini