Ah, if the thing has USB 3.0, then the NIC in the laptop is probably 100Mbit (lower end models had 100Mbit even if they were newer), that’s your main issue, not SMB. SMB is a TCP/IP protocol, has nothing to do with hardware implementation and has no speed limits (at least none that I’m aware of). It goes as fast as the slowest part in the chain.
Ah, if the thing has USB 3.0, then the NIC in the laptop is probably 100Mbit (lower end models had 100Mbit even if they were newer), that’s your main issue, not SMB. SMB is a TCP/IP protocol, has nothing to do with hardware implementation and has no speed limits (at least none that I’m aware of). It goes as fast as the slowest part in the chain.