As it turned out, my conclusions were correct and the joystick worked in a true plug'n'play fashion. In the end I decided to go for the Saitek X52 Pro, because I found a few hints that it might work on the Mac, and since it was an established product (I think the year of first manufacture was 2007) I reckoned that I would have found more explicit information if it didn't work on the Mac.
For instance, the Saitek X52 Pro product page lists Windows in the system requirements but not Mac OS X, but on the other hand it mentions X-Plane 10 for Mac under 'Flight Simulation Software Compatibility'. The question was: Which model should I buy? This question was not an easy one because I had to find a joystick that would work on the Mac, but the information which models work on which platforms was not readily available, or confusingly presented. When my mouse hand started to have cramps I finally knew that I had to get a joystick.
