Time Machine Question

First off, Im new to posting on this site but have been a dedicated fan to macrumors for some time now and check it daily for the latest news for everything Apple.....

Though I am not new to apple, ive owned my imac aluminum for over 2 years now, and its done me good, but its my first imac and now its time for an upgrade....

So im looking to purchase a new 21' imac soon and just had a question on transferring my data over.

Ive never used time machine or any other backup utility because I have all my music, photos, etc saved onto a external hdd and not the one in my imac. So transferring those shouldnt be an issue, my question lies w/ transfering my applications over.

I have lots of apps like Adobe, office, etc that are on my imac, and i'd like to transfer them over to my future imac, but I do not have the discs handy... I legitimately bought all the software, but I moved a year ago and the discs are some thousands of miles away from me buried in storage..

So, would I be able to use Time Machine to make a backup and transfer my applications, w/out having to re-install them on the new computer w/ discs?

If not, is there any way to get my apps onto my new computer w/out the discs?

Thanks in advance and sorry if this question has been asked before. Ive searched but haven't found a straight forward answer.

 

Great, Thanks for the link..... Looks like exactly what I need....