Can I do it with time machine?

I have an older mac with snow leopard and I just bought a new AIR with Lion. Is there a way to transfer everything including programs that are work related on to the new machine? Can I do it with time machine?

The Macbook Air doesn't have Firewire ports, it has USB only, or wireless ethernet. (You can also use ethernet wired through a USB-ethernet adaptor but I think this is rarely done.)
I did this Migration when we got a new Macbook Air last year. The Apple Store people told me that they strongly recommended doing this Migration to the new Macbook Air through USB with the Time Machine backup. They said this was the most likely approach to be complication-free. They also told me that when someone brings in an older machine to them to be migrated to a new one (they offer this service for $75), they even create the Time Machine backup right there to use in the transfer because it works so smoothly.
I did it the way they recommended, USB between old Time Machine backup to USB on new Macbook Air. It took a few hours (200 GB to transfer) and was completely trouble free. I did have to reinstall the printer drivers for a Canon printer/scanner. Otherwise, everything was there and we didn't even have to enter serial numbers for MS-Office or Adobe software like photoshop.
So that's my recommendation to you for the Macbook Air.  Wireless ethernet is another option but it's more complicated and more prone to issues, and it's much slower.
One thing you should be awae of -- certain older software runs under "Rosetta" under 10.6, but Rosetta is gone under 10.7, so those programs won't work under 10.7. One example is MS-Office 2004. On the other hand, Office 2011 works fine under 10.7.

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