I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro and I am about to invest in some hardware for this lovely piece. With the new macOS release this year, my MacBook won't get an update to Mojave.
My question is: How fatal is this for me as a user/developer? Can I expect to work with high sierra? Or will future tools and SDK only be released for the latest macOS (in this case Mojave)?
I don't know the policy of Apple. So if some experienced users could give me some information about how Apple treats "old" MacBook, this would be nice.
Best Answer
This is not a critical problem. You should be able to continue developing on your MacBook Pro for a year or two yet.
iOS Development
For iOS development, so long as Xcode supports your operating system, there is no problem. Do check the iOS SDKs supported by Xcode in case you need to work with specific features.
macOS Testing
You will be able to continue developing applications that target macOS 10.13 and below. Building for macOS 10.14+ is possible but testing will be a problem.
Some features, such as Dark Mode/Appearance support, will be difficult to implement correctly. Implementing support does not require the developer run macOS 10.14, but they should be able to borrow or test on a Mac running macOS 10.14.
App Store Submissions
You will continue to be able to submit applications to Apple's App Stores. Historically, Apple have not restricted what tools or versions are used to build applications they accept.
Future
Be aware that Apple previewed an iOS on macOS framework at WWDC 2018. This suggests significant changes are coming to at least the Mac platform. You may want to wait until more is known, before investing too much in a new Mac.