[vdrummer]

I'm moving from a 1Ghz 1Gb ram TiBook to the new 1.67Ghz 17" with 2 Gb ram. For sure it's easy to transfer over all my installed software and data with the Tiger Migration Assistant, but I've got three years of stuff on the Ti, including over 20,000 emails, and over 90 additional software programs installed (of which I only need one-third).

With all that and 850 .plist files, 3Gb of stuff (mostly Mail) in my Home\Library folder, plus whatever other stuff I've accumulated, would I be mucking up and slowing down my new system by bringing all this over? Would my new system be meaningfully faster with a clean installation of only what I need?

[phobos]

Don't just transfer your library folder on to the new machine. Whatever was slowing down your previous powerbook will slow down this one. The same goes for all the apps. Do a clean install. Especially if you have adobe's apps.
Just transfer the things that you will need. Mailbox files (.mbox), stickies (if you use those), safari preferences, photos, music. Backup (apple's application) can help you with that.

[robertj]

I don't know that much about what really slows down a computer. But my recommendation would be to definitely do a clean install. You'll have extra space that way, and why bother carrying around things you don't need? I dislike the migration assistant because it replicates all the clutter of the previous system--clutter which builds up after time naturally, I think. If you just take over what you need, you'll be able to organize it selectively... I also had some trouble with the tiger migration assistant copying the system file from the old Mac... I ended up having to erase the new Mac's HD and re-install. I think that was user error, though, not the migration assistant.