Intel MBP to M3 MBP......

[Jag500]

Hi Guys,

I've just taken delivery of my new 16" MBP M3 Max. I dont want to use it, I want to frame it!

Anyway seriously, I'm reading a whole bunch of confusing info with regard to transferring data to new machine.
Some of it says don't use Migrate, if you're going from Intel to Mac silicon.
They say a lot of stuff (applications) won't be optimised for Mac chip and might affect the performance.
So in the real world what does this mean?

My main daily apps are already optimised I think. Affinity Publisher (graphic, photography, design), Mixcrosoft 365 (excel, word etc), Scrivener (for writing)

I can set the new machine up in my usual apple id, and then re-install software from scratch? Maybe a bit time consuming but it is what it is.

Files etc I can just move straight across by lead or wireless?

This is probbly a whole lot simpler than I'm making it in my head

Any thoughts?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If your apps currently running on the Intel MBP aren't already universal, then when they transfer over to the M3 MBP, they won't run at all until you replace it with a universal or Apple Silicon version of the application.

The files can move along without any issues.

Even if the apps are universal, you'd ideally want to switch over to the Apple Silicon version if available. While the application isn't going to adversely affect the overall system performance, the app update will benefit it only.

 

[Jag500]

If your apps currently running on the Intel MBP aren't already universal, then when they transfer over to the M3 MBP, they won't run at all until you replace it with a universal or Apple Silicon version of the application.

The files can move along without any issues.

Even if the apps are universal, you'd ideally want to switch over to the Apple Silicon version if available. While the application isn't going to adversely affect the overall system performance, the app update will benefit it only.

So basically, that's what I'll do, just re-install fresh apps, not copy them across? That's simple enough.
Thank you!

 

[MacInWin]

If your apps currently running on the Intel MBP aren't already universal, then when they transfer over to the M3 MBP, they won't run at all until you replace it with a universal or Apple Silicon version of the application.

Ashwin, Rosetta2 will install if you launch an Intel-based app. At least, it did for me, and they ran just fine until the AS version was released.

For the OP (@Jag500 ) using Migration is the best way to move both apps and data. And use it when it is first offered, in the setup, as that will create an account for you that looks like your old account and uses the same passwords. This approach will avoid any issues with read/write permissions later.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Jake, yup I know that that Rosetta2 will be installed, but unless you expressly check and upgrade, you wouldn't know if you are using the Intel or AS version of the application.

I personally re-install applications on a new machine just to avoid bringing over any cruft from older machines. I do backup all of my data to a shared space and bring in what I need.

 

[Jag500]

Ashwin, Rosetta2 will install if you launch an Intel-based app. At least, it did for me, and they ran just fine until the AS version was released.

For the OP (@Jag500 ) using Migration is the best way to move both apps and data. And use it when it is first offered, in the setup, as that will create an account for you that looks like your old account and uses the same passwords. This approach will avoid any issues with read/write permissions later.

Thanks for this. So the advice not to use Migrate, from Intel to M3 isnt really correct. I have to say, I've never had an issue before between Mac machines. But i've never done a change over to new chip before. Hence my OP.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Yes, that advice is more nuanced than not to do it. If the process of using Migration Assistant wasn't supported, Apple would prevent the app from working.

As Jake said, when macOS running on AS sees an Intel-only application, it'll install Rosetta2 so that you can use the application. If the application is universal, then you won't see anything special happen at all.

Running an intel-only application through Rosetta2 means that the application will work, but depending on the application, it might not be as performant as compared to the AS version, so that's likely the performance degradation that people might be referring to.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks for this. So the advice not to use Migrate, from Intel to M3 isnt really correct.

As Jake points out, using the Migration Assistant will save you a ton of headaches later by avoiding issues with permissions and preserving most of your settings. It will especially save you a ton of headaches moving everything from your old Apple Mail program to your new Apple Mail program.

You CAN do things as Ashwin suggests, and doing it that way definitely has the advantage of making sure that all the cruft from past installations doesn't get carried over (this is especially a good idea if you've migrated from several machines, one after another, over the years.) The thing is, this is a procedure either for folks who are more on the techie side, or for folks who don't need to get up and running quickly. I wouldn't ordinarily recommend it for an ordinary user.

(I did things as Ashwin suggests for my migration to the Mac that I'm typing on now. It took me MONTHS to get Mail sorted, and it was only good after I enlisted my programmer son to convert all of the rules and other settings in Mail to the newer format via a custom script. If I hadn't had him, I NEVER would have gotten Mail back to the way it was on my previous machine.)

Apple's Migration Assistant is really brilliant. I don't see any reason that you shouldn't trust it.

If your old Mac was running Mojave or earlier, you will almost certainly lose some 32-bit only apps that you will have to either upgrade or replace with something else.

It's also very likely that you will have some apps that aren't updated to run natively on Apple Silicon. That's okay, they will likely run just fine under Rosetta, and at some point you can upgrade them or replace them to run natively for increased performance.

 

[Jag500]

Yes, that advice is more nuanced than not to do it. If the process of using Migration Assistant wasn't supported, Apple would prevent the app from working.

As Jake said, when macOS running on AS sees an Intel-only application, it'll install Rosetta2 so that you can use the application. If the application is universal, then you won't see anything special happen at all.

Running an intel-only application through Rosetta2 means that the application will work, but depending on the application, it might not be as performant as compared to the AS version, so that's likely the performance degradation that people might be referring to.

Yeah - perfectly clear now.

As Jake points out, using the Migration Assistant will save you a ton of headaches later by avoiding issues with permissions and preserving most of your settings. It will especially save you a ton of headaches moving everything from your old Apple Mail program to your new Apple Mail program.

You CAN do things as Ashwin suggests, and doing it that way definitely has the advantage of making sure that all the cruft from past installations doesn't get carried over (this is especially a good idea if you've migrated from several machines, one after another, over the years.) The thing is, this is a procedure either for folks who are more on the techie side, or for folks who don't need to get up and running quickly. I wouldn't ordinarily recommend it for an ordinary user.

(I did things as Ashwin suggests for my migration to the Mac that I'm typing on now. It took me MONTHS to get Mail sorted, and it was only good after I enlisted my programmer son to convert all of the rules and other settings in Mail to the newer format via a custom script. If I hadn't had him, I NEVER would have gotten Mail back to the way it was on my previous machine.)

Apple's Migration Assistant is really brilliant. I don't see any reason that you shouldn't trust it.

If your old Mac was running Mojave or earlier, you will almost certainly lose some 32-bit only apps that you will have to either upgrade or replace with something else.

It's also very likely that you will have some apps that aren't updated to run natively on Apple Silicon. That's okay, they will likely run just fine under Rosetta, and at some point you can upgrade them or replace them to run natively for increased performance.

This probably says it all. I'll be migrating tonight!

 

[IWT]

@ Jake, Ashwin, Randy

Is there any problem or difficulty, something to watch out for, if one was to transfer everything from an up-to-date Time Machine?

I ask because I will very shortly be in that position myself. (2019 iMac - Ventura, to a M2 Max Studio)

Ian

 

[Jag500]

@ Jake, Ashwin, Randy

Is there any problem or difficulty, something to watch out for, if one was to transfer everything from an up-to-date Time Machine?

I ask because I will very shortly be in that position myself. (2019 iMac - Ventura, to a M2 Max Studio)

Ian

TBH I don't use Timemachine as a rule. I'm just going to go to migration and see what it tells me to do.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Ian, congrats on the purchase and no, you should be fine. As discussed, the system will tell you if an application will totally not work for one reason or another, but through Rosetta2 or universal support, all of your apps will function. And then you can slowly switch over to AS specific versions of applications.

Rosetta2 is great, but it's still translating across architectures, so there will be a performance hit. For trivial applications, this is negligible, but might not be for others so switching to architecture specific version is best.

 

[MacInWin]

Is there any problem or difficulty, something to watch out for, if one was to transfer everything from an up-to-date Time Machine?

No, I've done that and it worked well for me. I did it also for my wife's transition from Intel to AS.

What I found is that the Intel-only software generally got "shifted" to the Universal or AS version at the next update of that software. For example, I have MS365, and at first it just used Rosetta2. But when the next month's update to the suite was available, all of it got reinstalled to be Universal. Ditto for several other well-known apps. There were some, that on the next update notice, indicated that I needed to remove/reinstall completely, which I did. Those generally required re-registration or re-entry of licensing information, but was otherwise painless.

I still have some Intel applications, some even from Apple! The performance hit from Rosetta2 is really small, in fact as a transition from Intel to AS, the speed gain of the AS hardware vastly overwhelms the hit from Rosetta2, with the app actually running faster under Rosetta2 than it did on native Intel. Not as fast as an AS version on Apple hardware, but still faster.

 

[IWT]

Thanks chaps. I am much relieved by your responses. I shall keep you posted, not necessarily on this thread re my new system whenever it arrives. As you all know, with Studio equipment, there are various bits like Mouse and Keyboard as well as the M2 "Box" and the Monitor - all arriving over a 3-4 week time frame, separately

Ian

 

[Jag500]

Well, that was drama free. A straight migration from Intel to M3 Max in one hour ten minutes. It would have been quicker I suspect had I used leads. I just used wireless peer to peer. To be fair that migration assistant is invaluable. Just did my wife's MBA to my outgoing MBP - worked perfetly, again.

On another note, the MBP M3 Max feels very snappy, very quick, at everything! And no sound of fans spinning up.