It is now July 2023. just installed OS X Ventura on this old box. And yes, I needed to run OpenCore.
It runs, performance is still oke for generic use. So in the end, an 11 year old computer still useable including usage of the key apps of MS Office. On the other hand, I would have loved it when Apple make it easier to upgrade the SSD and memory (to 8 gb). They have the mouth full of sustainability, so a use case of a decade+ use of their hardware should be at the core of that.