Moving my photos and PSE catalog to a new machine... and upgrading

H
I am seeking advice on the best way to do the following: 
- move my photos from my current laptop to a new laptop
- recreate my current PSE catalog on the new machine
- do both of the above while also upgrading to PSE 11 on the new machine.
The last time I did this sort of action -- moved my photos to a new machine -- it was sheer bedlum.  Hoping to avoid the pain this time.  
Do I first need to move my photos to the new laptop -- recreating the exact smae file structure that I have today -- amd them export and import the PSE catalog? I want to repeserve the album structure and tagging that I have created.....    
Any help/pointers appreciated. 

The recommended way to move to another computer with a new OS or PSE version is to use the built-in backup and restore function in PSE.
- Start with a clean catalog : reconnect missing files, repair, optimize. That's good practice even if it is not strictly necessary.
- Do a full backup on an external media (external USB drives are safe and affordable). If you have several catalogs, do as many backups. Warning ! each separate backup must be in its own separate folder.
- Now, you have installed your PSE version (possibly a newer version) on the new computer, you can do a restore from each catalog backup. That will restore the catalog and the picture files ; if you have checked the option to keep the folder tree structure, it will be kept.
The smart thing about this process is that not only everything is restored, but if you have upgraded to a newer PSE version, the catalog will be automatically converted to the newer version ; furthermore, you have a backup!
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshop-elements-faq.htm#_Move_your_photos_1
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/common-catalog-issues-upgrade-elements.html
Edit:
This shows why a backup from the organizer is often a better solution than external backup solutions. Suppose your old computer crashes, you can restore to a new computer and newer PSE version easily. It's also a good way to update a secondary computer (a laptop for instance) to the same 'sync'  than the master computer.

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