Do I need a USB4 or Thunderbolt SSD, or is USB 3.2 enough?

For most laptops and everyday transfers, reviewers note that a USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive (around 1,000MB/s) is the practical sweet spot. USB4 and Thunderbolt drives like the Corsair EX400U and SanDisk PRO-G40 can hit 3,000-4,000MB/s, but communities including r/UsbCHardware and r/MacOS point out that you need a matching host port to see those speeds, and that many Macs fall back to slower modes. Buy the faster interface only if your workflow genuinely moves huge files and your host supports it.