In regular raw C# the answer would be “nothing”. However, when you involve expression trees, there is a difference; as can be seen here
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
public class C<TSource, TDest> where TDest : new() {
public Expression<Func<TSource, TDest>> Foo() => model => new TDest();
public Expression<Func<TSource, TDest>> Bar() => model => new TDest {};
}
compiles as:
public Expression<Func<TSource, TDest>> Foo()
{
ParameterExpression parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TSource), "model");
Expression arg_2E_0 = Expression.New(typeof(TDest));
ParameterExpression[] expr_2A = new ParameterExpression[1];
expr_2A[0] = parameterExpression;
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, TDest>>(arg_2E_0, expr_2A);
}
public Expression<Func<TSource, TDest>> Bar()
{
ParameterExpression parameterExpression = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TSource), "model");
Expression arg_38_0 = Expression.MemberInit(Expression.New(typeof(TDest)), Array.Empty<MemberBinding>());
ParameterExpression[] expr_34 = new ParameterExpression[1];
expr_34[0] = parameterExpression;
return Expression.Lambda<Func<TSource, TDest>>(arg_38_0, expr_34);
}
So one of them involves an Expression.MemberInit (with an empty set of MemberBinding elements) in addition to Expression.New. This can upset any LINQ provider (or any similar expression-tree analysis) that doesn’t expect it.