HELP PLEASE! Export Aperture 1 Library and Import to Aperture 3? Or another way to transfer files WITH changes into new MacBook Pro?

Question

Hi everyone,
I recently purchased a new MacBook pro with Retina display, to better manage Aperture and Photoshop. I took the advice of the genius (and after spending all night messing with permissions, etc.), opted out of using Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant and decided to transfer my files manually (as the two systems weren't merging properly the first time -- it was a giant mess). Long story short, I tried to transfer everything from my previous MacBook (operating on 10.5.8 with Aperture 1), and Aperture 3 couldn't handle it. It was crashing, and crashing so badly that NO button could be activated in the program (I FINALLY got Aperture working by disabling previews, and by moving from a managed library to a referenced library).
I initially dragged and dropped all photos from my previous MacBook to my external, and imported. I obviously lost folders, edit history and any other information that I needed to know what edits had been done on the file. Additionally, any movie that had been imported into Aperture was corrupt (the file was not transferring over correctly). I searched and searched for different methods, and finally found that I could export each project from my original MacBook as a "Library" and consolidate masters, or not, etc. I took the time and did this for each project. When I went to import these into Aperture 3, it said I was not able to because the libraries were from a previous version of Aperture.
Is there any way to bypass this? Or another way to transfer my projects? I understand I won't be able to do this for my entire library... but I'm wondering if there's any way to transfer my changes made, projects and details from Aperture 1 to Aperture 3? (and for those who might pose upgrading my original MacBook as an option, I cannot. It's too old. I think the best I could uprade to is Aperture 2, IF i can update the OS. Though, I definitely don't think I should be forced to do that since I've aleady re-invested in a new computer, AND had to re-buy Aperture for the new one.
Any/all advice is VERY much appreciated, as I really want to move forward and FINALLY start appreciating this program and computer (i.e. my investment) and move forward business wise. Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi Jack,
Thanks for responding (as it seems as though no one else has been able to provide any insight as of yet)! Not sure if you saw my recent post, but the version of Aperture on the 2008 MacBook has been upgraded to 3.1.2 (not sure how; I bought it in 2009, but only have OS X 10.5.8... which apparently can't house 3.1.2 of Aperture, but hey, like many other anomalies i'm encountering, I'm no longer surprised!). I am unable to upgrade it any further, as it warns me that my OS X does not fit the requirements. I exported the projects as libraries; however, like I posted before, apparently these are from too old of a version for the new Aperture (3.3.1) to handle and import.
It's getting to the point where I'd almost pay to upgrade the OS X on my previous MacBook (10.5.8) to something newer in order to THEN update Aperture to a newer version; however, my previous MacBook simply cannot handle this (the specs are awful -- hence my decision to save up and upgrade to the newest MBP with Retina).
I've spent hours upon hours transferring files, libraries as projects, previews, versions, even masters (though, apparently some of them aren't accessible?) with no luck. I've rebuilt the library and reprocessed everything. And this is all after having to return one MBP already since Aperture 3.3.1 is glitch-y as it is, and froze everything for having a "managed library". So, now that I know that I have to deal with a referenced library in Aperture... I just need to actually transfer my previous library to my new one (hopefully WITH adjustments since these are years worth of photos and work).
Again, any help is appreciated. I've lost enough sleep, time, and vision health over this at this point.
Also, I know Migration Assistant is an option, I was told that it wouldn't work properly anyway because of the different operating systems, and the potential for problems.