USB 3.0 vs USB 2.0 – Speed Comparison with eSATA, Firewire, and Thunderbolt

Traditional hard drives (7200 RPM) are much faster than the USB standard allows for. You can prove it by taking a decent hard drive and plugging it in natively, and testing it, and then testing it in a USB caddy.

Since eSATA and Firewire (400/800) are both significantly quicker than USB, I'd be willing to bet they are reasonably close in speed to what sort of speeds you'd see from a natively plugged in drive. eSATA especially - since isn't it meant to be an external version of a native sata controller?

Conclusion

After long deliberation, the all-knowing Stack Exchange Community has spoken: None of my options work.

EDIT 3: This thing did the trick at last. No lag, USB 3.0 compatibility. Everything fine. But pricy...

EDIT 1!! Option one, this Adapter or a similar product (like this), will probably do the job after all and despite the explanation below as indicated by the accepted answer to this question. But next paragraph still has a point!

The only reasonable and working solution is to buy a Thunderbolt 1/2 dock (@JamesP) (All MBP owners with only USB 2.0 ports please note: Do not buy a USB docking station, but do buy a Thunderbolt 1/2 one or even a TB 3 one with a TB 1/2>3 adapter (to have a TB 3 dock for newer computers) instead, if you badly want a dock!!), which are quite pricy (new about USD 200-300) or - more probably reasonable - buy a new MPB with the latest (USB 3.0) ports (and a thunderbolt 3 dock, which is about as pricy as the Thunderbolt 1/2 ones).

EDIT 2: I can confirm now, that the adapter above does provide USB 3.0 for such an old MacBook Pro somewhat since I just bought the one above out of curiosity and against my previous statement in EDIT 1. Bitrates are doubled. I also can confirm that is does not resolve my screen lags (see here: DVI to USB 3.0 to Thunderbolt: Laggy Screen and mediocre USB bitrate)!! Stick with EDIT 1.

Explanation

Mostly because of unequal signal "languages" or "losses" while translating from Thunderbold/Ethernet to USB and the therefore impossible back-translation from USB to the others:

1. Ethernet to USB 3.0 adapter: Read @Christopher Hostage's answer to the question.
2. Thunderbolt 1 to USB 3.0 adapter: Read @JamesP's comments beneath the question. And @Allan's explanations here and here.
3. The adapter train: Same as 2.

Thanks to those three people, the question is answered! A last advice: The cheapest way is probably not to use a dock or only partially (as a USB HUB with ethernet xD) and plug the external monitor into the Thunderbolt 1 slot with a DVI/VGA etc. adapter, so that the USB 2.0 connection is not overtaxed.

P.S. No one actually confirmed that my screen delays are because of the USB 2.0 connection, but I'm assuming sure that this is silently implied by all the answers, so I'll consider my question closed anyways.