When is too much macOS, too much?

I am stepping through OCLP 2.0.1-enabled macOS upgrades on MB 9,1, MPB 9,1, Mac Pro 6,1, and Mini 7,1. I am doing clean installs onto a freshly formatted SSD.

All are doing well with Sequoia, with the exception of the MacBook 9,1. 8GB and 1.2 GHz m5 may not really be up to the task. The 6,1 Pro, on the other hand, is a BEAST.

How do I know how far I should go? Ventura was very smooth, even on the lesser machine.