USB 3.0 vs 2.0: how much faster is it and when does it matter?

USB 3.0 offers transfer speeds of up to 5 Gb/s, roughly ten times faster than USB 2.0's 480 Mb/s. The ports look nearly identical, but USB 3.0 ports are typically marked in blue. For everyday peripherals like mice and keyboards the difference is negligible; for large file transfers or external drives, USB 3.0 is significantly faster.