New start or Transfer for MacBook Air

[sajr]

I have just ordered a new MacBook Air M1 with 16gb of RAM and 2tb SSD and will be migrating over from my current MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2015 with 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 and a 2tb SSD. I am conflicted about whether I should start fresh and just transfer content mainly music from my old MacBook Pro or restore from a time machine backup. theres also the fact the Pro is on Catalina and the Air will be on Big Sur. Photos will just download from iCloud and all my docs are in Onedrive so thats not an issue. What would people recommend and what pitfalls should I be aware of?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[KaliYoni]

My view is that it's best to keep computer-to-new computer transfers as simple and clean as possible. So if I were in your position, I would first try setting up the new machine without using Migration Assistant. But I would also keep my existing Time Machine backup around for at least a few days. Then if the data-only transfer isn't working out for some reason, I have the option to start over and do a Migration Assistant/Time Machine setup.

 

[mj_]

I haven't had a fresh start on my main work machines since 2013, and I went through six different Macs since then (13" MBP 2012, 13" MBP 2016, 15" MBP 2015, 27" iMac 2017, 12" MacBook 2017, 13" MBA M1). I never fully understood why anyone would voluntarily make their lifes more complicated by continuously setting up every Mac as a new machine from scratch. Apple's Migration Assistant is designed to make life easier and take the arduous task of setting up a new computer as painless and easy as possible, and it does a great job. Not once did I encounter any issues as a result of these migrations.

 

[Erkinshadow]

I prefer a fresh start, less likely for an issues to follow from one computer to the next.