By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
World of SoftwareWorld of SoftwareWorld of Software
  • News
  • Software
  • Mobile
  • Computing
  • Gaming
  • Videos
  • More
    • Gadget
    • Web Stories
    • Trending
    • Press Release
Search
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Copyright © All Rights Reserved. World of Software.
Reading: Kingston XS2000 4TB External SSD review: Fast enough, but not the best for Apple owners
Share
Sign In
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
World of SoftwareWorld of Software
Font ResizerAa
  • Software
  • Mobile
  • Computing
  • Gadget
  • Gaming
  • Videos
Search
  • News
  • Software
  • Mobile
  • Computing
  • Gaming
  • Videos
  • More
    • Gadget
    • Web Stories
    • Trending
    • Press Release
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Copyright © All Rights Reserved. World of Software.
World of Software > News > Kingston XS2000 4TB External SSD review: Fast enough, but not the best for Apple owners
News

Kingston XS2000 4TB External SSD review: Fast enough, but not the best for Apple owners

News Room
Last updated: 2025/07/19 at 8:13 AM
News Room Published 19 July 2025
Share
SHARE

The external Kingston XS2000 SSD works well enough, but doesn’t quite reach its full speed potential on Mac because of Apple’s design choices.

With the massive bandwidth available for USB 4 and Thunderbolt connections, external SSDs are generally the best way to get more storage on a Mac. Typically compact, they can work at about the same speed as Apple’s own internal drives.

That is, assuming you get a Thunderbolt one. The Kingston XS2000 is not that.

It is a decent choice. It’s fast enough, and on the higher side of affordable, but still in the range. It’s just not the best choice for Apple users because of what Apple chooses to support for USB standards.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Physical design

An external drive aimed at Mac users generally follows a well-traveled design ethos. Brushed metal is generally de rigeur, and Kingston doesn’t disappoint on this front.

When the rubber bumper is installed, the top has a small divot across most of the surface, which oddly helps with grip when carrying the drive around.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Inside its rubber casing

The XS2000 is a rectangular block of storage, measuring 2.71 inches by 1.28 inches and 0.53 inches thick. At this size, it’s hard to come up with a better shape without sacrificing on physical volume, and that’s OK here.

As it is, and with its 28.9-gram (1.02 ounces) weight, it is a very easily transportable storage device. This is something you could regularly carry around with an iPhone, let alone a MacBook Pro.

While Kingston does well with the Mac-like appearance, it also handles the other major trope of external storage options — a (mostly) rugged device that can handle a camping trip.

It is supplied with a black rubber sleeve that protects the edges while leaving the top-side divot (and Kingston logo) exposed. This also a byproduct of the sleeve adding more grip here.

The sleeve is meant to help protect it from drops of up to 6 feet, as well as knocks while in a pocket or bag. It’s also got an IP55 rating, so it can handle a bit of dust and water splashes, but not submersion.

However, if you’re using it at home, you may be better off taking the rubber bit off for aesthetic reasons.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Connectivity and speed

The method of connecting the Kingston XS2000 to your Mac or other hardware is over USB Type-C. Supplied with a 12-inch USB-C to USB-C cable, it will work with a USB-C connection or one that is compatible with it, including Thunderbolt ports.

This is where there is a small problem creeps in, at least on the Mac side.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: It uses USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. Mac does not.

Kingston includes support for USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 for the drive using the Silicon Motion SM2320 chipset paired with Micron 96L 3D TLC flash cells and an approximate 100GB SLC cache, which provides for up to 20Gbps speed for about five minutes — on a Windows machine. The issue is that Apple doesn’t actively support USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, so the dual-lane 20Gbps connectivity falls back to USB 3.2 Gen 2 instead.

On a Mac and iPhone, it connects over USB-C at 10Gbps, half the potential speed. But, as a bonus, it never seems to fill the cache, so this speed is maintained on the Mac.

Connection speed aside, the drive is compatible with macOS 10.14 and later, as well as iOS and iPadOS 13 or later, Android and Chrome OS devices, Windows desktops, and game consoles.

The storage inside the drive is 3D NAND flash, available in capacities between 500GB and 4TB. This is a decent range, with 4TB being on the high side for this compact a device.

Kingston markets the drive as having read and write speeds at up to 2,000MB/s for both reads and writes. This would certainly be possible with the full USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 connectivity, but on half the bandwidth, the theoretical maximum on Mac should be 1,250MB/s.

We didn’t see that max speed, but you never do. We realistically saw about 800 megabytes per second, as we said, maintained effectively indefinitely.

Good enough, and better than SATA.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Costly but compact

The Kingston XS2000 goes is very usable piece of external storage for your Mac. As a backup drive or a scratch disk for projects, it certainly handles each very well.

It’s also extremely portable and offers decent durability, albeit with the addition of a rubber covering.

The main downsides to the drive are cost and speed.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: M4 Mac mini for scale.

It’s hard to justify paying a $349 list price, or $269.99 sale price, for an external 4TB drive that runs at 10 gigabits per second on the Mac, even indefinitely. That $269 sale price is in the ballpark of a “roll your own” combo of enclosure and drive, and you’d get more speed to boot.

But, if you just want to grab something small, and is good enough, there are far worse choices. Kingston has engineered a nice drive here, but it’s a shame that Apple doesn’t support USB-C 3.2 2×2.

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Pros

  • Size
  • Mac styling
  • More-or-less indefinite 10 gigabit per second speed on the Mac

Kingston XS2000 External SSD review: Cons

  • USB-limited peak speed for Mac users
  • Price per GB at retail price isn’t fantastic for the speed

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Where to buy the Kingston XS2000 External SSD

The Kingston XS2000 External SSD is priced from $90.99 to $348.99 on Kingston’s website. It’s also available at Amazon, from $62 to $269.99

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Chain to open another location on July 20 – and eyes seven more next month
Next Article BMW M5 review: a PHEV worth its weight
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected

248.1k Like
69.1k Follow
134k Pin
54.3k Follow

Latest News

Top 10 Hybrid Work Software for Better Collaboration |
Computing
Netflix admits to using AI in one of its shows
News
Inside Apple Calendar – Creating events, setting reminders & remembering birthdays
News
The 5 streaming TV series dominating our screens this week
News

You Might also Like

News

Netflix admits to using AI in one of its shows

2 Min Read
News

Inside Apple Calendar – Creating events, setting reminders & remembering birthdays

32 Min Read
News

The 5 streaming TV series dominating our screens this week

4 Min Read
News

Here’s how to save on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 preorder

6 Min Read
//

World of Software is your one-stop website for the latest tech news and updates, follow us now to get the news that matters to you.

Quick Link

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Topics

  • Computing
  • Software
  • Press Release
  • Trending

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

World of SoftwareWorld of Software
Follow US
Copyright © All Rights Reserved. World of Software.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?