Welcome to the forum, first of all.
Since you're not rooted, you won't be able to restore the data within the apps I'm afraid. And I like your optimism on getting the M rooted, I hope you're right!
You can use an app like My Backup (
free /
pro) to backup and restore your apps only. All it really does is help speed up the process by manually installing each .apk. You still have to hit "ok" / "install" each time. But it helps... Just make sure that whenever it backs up that it does so to your external micro-sd card that you'll be putting into the M (more on that in a second).
However, My Backup will also backup/restore your call logs, SMS, MMS, music playlists, etc. I've only ever had the Pro version, though, so I'm not sure if the free version is limited with some of that.
One tip on your SMS / MMS. Use SMS Backup & Restore to backup/restore your SMS messages (
free /
pro) - again, make sure you specify your external micro-sd card. Then use My Backup to restore your MMS messages, after restoring with SMS Backup & Restore. That's the only way I've been able to get all of my messages back the way they were (without root anyway), in the exact order they were before. There might be easier ways, but I've yet to find them.
The M's external storage is set to /mnt/external1 - why, I have no idea... but when you restore, you'll need to either copy the backups to internal storage, or point the apps to that directory.
Please let us know your thoughts on the M vs. the Maxx!