There is no need to rush to upgrade an OS to the next major version. In fact it is usually best to hold off until you have researched & tested your setup with the new OS. I never upgrade to a new major version of any OS until after at least the first update patch. I'm in fact still on macOS 13.x Ventura since I have no need for Sonoma or Sequoia.
Research by checking out the Apple forums here, especially the Sequoia forum to see what issues people are talking about, perhaps even some fan forum sites if you have any you follow. Keep in mind the majority of issues people report here tend to be associated with unnecessary third party software which are known to interfere with the normal operation of macOS (anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, optimizer apps, security software).
Also check with the developer's of all the third party software you use to make sure their apps are fully compatible with the new OS....this includes any plug-ins or extensions that you utilize. If those developers also have forums, then check them out to see what issues the early adopters are reporting. Keep in mind some third party developers may take weeks or months before updating their apps to be fully compatible with a new OS (some have been known to take a year).
Then there is the research part where you perform the tests yourself by testing the new OS yourself. This latter option will provide you with the best results since the online research is only a very rough guide for what you may encounter.
There are several ways to test out the new OS yourself:
- Install Sequoia into a new APFS volume assuming you have enough Free storage space (minimum 80GB just for the OS without any third party apps)
- Install Sequoia to an external drive (speeds of external SSDs vary greatly)
- Have a second backup computer which you can use for testing & emergencies
All three of these options allow you to dual boot so that you can continue working with your current setup while testing out the new OS to confirm whether there are any issues. Once you are sure everything is fine, then upgrade the OS on your main boot volume. If you chose option#1, then you can safely delete the newly created APFS volume to free up the storage space (first make sure to change the default Startup Disk in System Settings).
It is best to test everything for yourself since everybody's setup is completely different even if they are using the computer & OS for the exact same things. All it takes is one piece of hardware, or one plugin that you may use which could make a difference from success or failure with the upgrade.
Most important......always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media (including the cloud) since there are a lot more new ways to permanently lose access to the data on the internal SSD due to all the hardware, software, and security changes of the more recent Macs.
