Seeking advice on the optimal macOS release for an Intel Kaby Lake-R (Whiskey Lake platform) OpenCore build

Hi everyone,

I'm planning an OpenCore-based Hackintosh on an older ASUS laptop and would appreciate some guidance on selecting the most suitable macOS version before I start building the EFI.

Hardware

CPU: Intel Core i5-8250U (Kaby Lake Refresh, 4C/8T)

iGPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620

dGPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (I understand this will need to remain disabled as modern macOS versions no longer support NVIDIA Pascal)

RAM: 8 GB DDR4

Storage: 1 TB SATA HDD (SSD upgrade planned in the future)

My primary objective is to achieve a stable daily-driver configuration rather than simply booting the newest release. I'm particularly interested in:

Native graphics acceleration through UHD 620

Stable sleep/wake

Functional audio

Working power management (XCPM)

Reliable battery reporting

Maximum compatibility with OpenCore and current kext ecosystem

Given Apple's ongoing deprecation of Intel Macs, I'm unsure where the "sweet spot" currently lies between compatibility and longevity. Would you recommend targeting Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe, or remaining on an earlier release?

I'm also interested in hearing whether there are any known issues specific to Kaby Lake Refresh laptops (framebuffer patching, DVMT allocation, CFG Lock, etc.) that I should account for before beginning the installation.

Any advice from users running a similar 8th-generation Intel platform would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.