How to- transfer information from old laptop to new?

[mdwsta4]

I'm picking up my new MBP tonight to replace my 3 year old ibook. my question is, how can i easily transfer all the information on my ibook (internet bookmarks, music, etc) to the macbook pro?

follow up question would be how do i reformat/erase everything on the ibook's hard drive once i'm done so i can sell it? and by erase everything, i mean my personal information. i'd like to keep all the applications on the computer as i don't have the discs any longer.

thanks!

 

[mad jew]

1. If you have a Firewire cable then you can use Target Disk Mode with Migration Assistant to transfer your data. Just be aware that it's a bit buggy and should really only be used for basic files and settings. Don't use it for apps, especially as you're coming from a PowerPC machine.
2. To erase everything on your old Mac, simply boot from the restore discs and select to format the drive before installing the OS. It will probably be labelled as a clean install. If you're bored, you can use the security settings to write zeroes to the drive. A one-way or even three-way pass should suffice. A seven-way pass is probably overkill.