Migration assistant vs. time machine restore

[thechidz]

what do you lose by just using migration assistant to transfer as much of your time machine backups to your new machine versus doing a full restore with time machine?

 

[jameskohn]

Waiting for my new iMac, and contemplating the migration of almost 300GB of programs, data, etc...

Will I be better off using migration assistant via firewire 800, or restore from time machine via ethernet?

 

[ltldrummerboy]

It doesn't really matter, it'll have the same end result but one might take longer than the other. But on your first boot of the new machine you can restore from a TM backup.

 

[DeuceDeuce]

It doesn't really matter, it'll have the same end result but one might take longer than the other. But on your first boot of the new machine you can restore from a TM backup.

What if the machines are different, will it work? I have an iMac and Time Machine BU's for the iMAc but will be replacing it with a Mac Pro. Can I use either of these two methods?