Chasing FCP on macOS - Monterey possible?

Yes, using your Apple ID. You do not download it from the Final Cut Pro page. You go to your purchased page that lists all the applications you’ve bought with that account through the App Store. You can download from there. You’ll be asked if you want the last compatible version for your system. The libraries will not be interchangeable between the two systems except through XML.

Here's a novel idea . . . which may not work!

Download the 90 day free trial to your wife's computer, copy it across and then see if you can download an earlier version for yours . . . probably not but worth a try. What have you got to lose other than a few minutes of your time.

At least it will give you some time to test out whether you really need FCP.

With your past experience with FCE etc. I would suggest trying out the free version of DaVinci Resolve which is not so fussy about operating systems and will give you everything FCP has bar the Magnetic Mask and Voice Isolation.

Finally why not throw caution to the wind and get a base model M4 mini for a miserly $599? 🤨

If you did decide to download Resolve the latest version you could use on Monterey would be 18.6.6 as opposed to the latest version 19.1.3.

You would have to scroll down the "Updates" on the left hand side as far as 20th. March 2024

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/support/

You are asked to register but if you don't want to give away any info you can put in garbage.

Here's the solution.

Download the FCP trial on your wife's computer to get up to speed with it and when you get your new MBP download it again . . . you can do this as it's a different Mac.

Whenever FCP is updated you can also download the new free update so as long as the updates come every 3 months you never need to buy it!

Seriously the 90 day trial (x 2) should be long enough to decide whether it is worth purchasing and may even be long enough to edit your church's video so there will be no need to buy it.

Alternatively if the incomplete project is an FCP one you can open it in the trial version and use an XML to transfer it to Resolve to finish the editing.