Although I've foreseen the inevitable for some time, I might be approaching the event horizon at which I'm forced to upgrade my Mac hardware. Behold the specs of my iMac, depicted here. In order to update the OS from 13.x.x, I'd have to purchase a 2019 model with Intel architecture, which would have enabled my updating from Logic Pro 10 to 11 – but in order to run some of the updated Mac software, such as Logic Pro 12, and some of the other software I use, an M1 or better Silicon Mac is necessary.
I had faced this slo-mo trainwreck in the past, when 20 years ago I'd had to upgrade from PowerPC to Intel architecture, and then tip-toe through the minefield of the obsolescence of 32-bit software until I'd arrive at nothing but 64-bit stuff on my Intel Mac. In that case, it was never clear at which OS update the transition were full; I'd just find that some cool reverb plug-in would no longer run, and I'd say a silent prayer for it while deleting it.
At this point, however, audio and video software have developed beyond the point where I'd ever warrant their latest features. For example, all the "A.I." crap in the Logic Pro 12 is anathema to the concepts of skill and creativity. I also am content with where the development of DxO PhotoLab 8 left off, and I'll never be a pro user having to keep up with the latest features of DaVinci Resolve. The latest iterations of those also contain "A.I." stuff that seem like marketing ruses, anyway, and if they require my having to come up with the money for a Silicon Mac, I have to be real about my own capacities and that those applications already are capable of more than I am or will need to be.
On the other hand, I just successfully updated Kontakt to v8.8.1, which supposedly required an update of the OS from 13 to 14. It might have been that the code of the new software is running on the back of the older (v8.8.0), but I've found this discrepancy in some Adobe software as well. During such transitional periods, minimum requirements are sometimes vague. After all, there was never a clear cut-off point between 32- and 64-bit software during the pre-Silicon tenure of Intel OSes and machine architecture.
The fact is that I currently have a very stable setup; all of the software that I use is at least sufficient for what I'll ever need it for, and some is good for what will remain totally over my head. I want to believe that I could keep going with this configuration indefinitely, but at least I'm not feeling any desperation to "keep up." The model of my iMac is nine years old. Formerly, I'd been compelled to "upgrade" new Mac hardware when it was six, maybe seven, years old. Currently, exact replications of my iMac are going for only $300 on eBay. Maybe I should buy one as a spare – except that I also have a 2017 i5 Macbook Pro that I'd obtained for free, and it also suffices for any of my needs, in a pinch.
When Mac software goes subscription-only (toward which Apple's Creator Studio suite of applications seems to be inching), audio software being developed for Linux is finally approaching reasonable viability.