transfering mac to mac

[peekay427]

Hi, I could use a little help.
I have a 2006 MacBook Pro (my first ever mac) and I just got, and am picking up today my 2nd mac ever (2011 MacBook Pro).
Rather than pay apple $100 to set it up, I'd really like to do it myself, but I'm not 100% sure how to do it.

Basically what I'm interested in doing is:
copying over my itunes library and making the new computer the boss of my iphone/ipod
Transferring my passwords and any saved info like browser history
If possible copy over some selected software that I'm not quite ready to purchase again (old copy of photoshop, etc.)

I have my old mac backed up on an external hard drive via time machine, if this makes things any easier. But, I do not want to do a "restore" because my old machine was running Leopard (not snow leopard) and I'd rather pick and choose what comes over.

Any suggestions/how-to's would be much appreciated as this is my first mac-to-mac data transfer.

Thanks in advance!

 

[alust2013]

You could plug in your time machine drive after the initial setup, and just copy the files you want from that to your new computer.

 

[John T]

The simplest way is to use Migration Assistant (should be in your Utilities folder).

I used it when I was in the same position as you. Compared with physically copying files, the App copies all settings/configurations to your new machine.