Upgrading my MBA and restoring with Time Machine

[Utahjeff]

I have a 2013 MBA and I'm considering getting a new MBA.

The machine has become slower and the battery life is only about 1 hour. This is to be expected after 7 years.

My questions have to do with transferring all of my apps from my current MBA to my new MBA.

If I use Time Machine, will it overwrite the new OS with the old OS?
Will my apps all transfer correctly?
Will whatever is slowing my current mac down, carry over to the new machine?
Am I better off trying to find all of my licenses and manually reinstalling everything?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Weaselboy]

If I use Time Machine, will it overwrite the new OS with the old OS?

You don't want to resotre, but rather import your apps and data when prompted during system setup. This will leave the existing (new) OS and import your apps and data.

Will my apps all transfer correctly?

Most will import fine. Some, notable MS and Adobe apps, will see they are in new hardware and make you reenter the registration info.

Will whatever is slowing my current mac down, carry over to the new machine?

Maybe... if you have some app or startup item that is causing problems on your existing system, it will very likely get imported and cause the same problem.

Am I better off trying to find all of my licenses and manually reinstalling everything?

That can be a lot of work. I usually tell people if your existing system is working well, give the import a try.