Use Migration Assistant with a Thunderbolt cable.

It’s the fastest and most reliable way. Both Macs need to be on the same Wi-Fi or connected via Thunderbolt (or USB-C to USB-C) and running macOS Monterey or later. Migration Assistant will copy everything: apps, files, settings, even your wallpaper. Just start it on both machines when prompted.

If you don’t have a cable, you can do it over Wi-Fi, but it’s slow if you have a lot of data. Another option: pull a Time Machine backup from your old Mac to an external drive, then restore from that drive on the new Mac. Works fine too.

One thing to know: some old Intel apps won’t run on Apple Silicon. Migration Assistant will still copy them, but they’ll either need an update or Rosetta 2. You can install Rosetta automatically when you open the app for the first time. It’s not a big deal.

Your new MacBook Air is going to feel a lot faster. Don’t overthink the transfer — just use the tool Apple built.