Just wanted to share my own experience.
I got hold of a 13“ early 2015 Macbook Pro with original 256 GB SSD. After diving deep into this thread, I decided to upgrade it with the 1TB Kingston A2000 and the long Sintech adapter because it came in a set with the torx screw drivers needed to open the Mac and swap out the SSD.
My priorities in choosing the Kingston were compatibility, reliability, and low power consumption, rather than speed. I also wanted to make sure the SSD was using TLC memory, after reading on Amazon that some manufacturers like Crucial had switched to QLC.
The whole transition was seamless from start to finish: Installed Monterey on the original SSD to get the latest bootrom, created a bootable USB stick for Monterey, opened up the Mac, disconnected the battery (hardest part of the operation), swapped out the SSD, started the Macbook from the bootable stick, formatted the SSD to APFS, installed Monterey on it, transferred everything else with migration assistant – job done.
The set-up is running smoothly, no problems with sleep or wake-up, no change in battery life, not losing excessive charge during sleep, no need for additional kexts, no panics, no nothing, speed is as expected.
I am very happy with my new old Macbook. Thanks for everyone’s contribution on here which helped me find the optimal solution for my needs.
TLDR works great with 1TB Kingston A2000 and Monterey for 13“ early 2015 Macbook Pro.