Best way to transfer from catilina to new iMac

There those of user who believe Setup Assist on the First Boot-up using a Recently Time Machine Backup to move over Everything is good.

Others believe Migration Assist after the computer has been already setup is good.

An then there are some ( like Me ) who have a different Conservative Approach.

There is " No One Size Fits All " approach to this.

If the new computer is going to be the Apple Silicon M1 / M2 Equipped Computer - would suggest Only Migrating the User Account and nothing more.

Some have had success and others have been left with a mess when Migrating everything.

1 - Apple Silicon with Monterey macOS 12 Only Support everything 64 bit and there is no workaround.

1A - Moving from Catalina which only supports 64 Bit is not an issue but whether the Catalina Version of extensions, drives and Application will work on a ARMS Based Computer

2 - Issues that may exist on the older computer will be migrated to the New Computer. This would badly pollute the new Original and Pristine installation of the new OS.

3 -  Applications, extensions and Software Drivers may or may not even work on the new computer.

4 - IMHO - it would be best to only install new application etc Directly from the Developer or the Apple Apps Store.

5 - Due Diligence on New Applications and make sure they are Monterey / Big Sur compatible and factor in the ARMs CPU of the Apple Silicon Computer  

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