Transferring everything from a PC?

[amphibious]

I just started school and I have been given a free Dell laptop loaded with everything I need for the program I'm in.

It's big, ugly, and has a two hour battery.

I want to move everything over to my brand new, smoking fast MacBook Pro.

We were given only restore discs with the computer, so I don't have access to clean install discs, which I believe VMware Fusion needs. Is there any way to transfer directly from the Windows computer or make an image that I can then access with VMware? If it's possible am I going to run into any issues given the fact that it's been initially set up to run on a Dell with substantially different hardware?

Thanks.

[gbullman]

You should be able to convert the Physical machine into a virtual machine with this conversion utility.

You will need a valid Windows license when all is said and done for the VM, you might be able to use your school's volume license or have to purchase one at a student discount.

You will want to go into the converted VM and remove drivers and utilities that are specific to your current hardware.

[gbullman]

Also just noticed that Fusion has a Migrate my PC... menu item that takes one to this page http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/windows_to_mac.html