Data rate is rated at 120 kbps, which covers the original RS-232 spec and common legacy serial protocols (9600 baud to 115200 baud).
At 120 kbps the MAX232DR is fast enough for standard UART communication up to 115200 baud with margin. If your design needs RS-232 above 1 Mbps (e.g., for high-speed instrumentation or multi-drop polling), this part is not the right fit — look at the MAX3222 or MAX3232 family for 250 kbps or 1 Mbps options.
Supply voltage and charge-pump reality
It cannot operate at 3.3 V. The internal charge-pump uses four external 1 µF capacitors (typically 0.1 µF to 1 µF ceramic) to generate the ±10 V RS-232 levels. Board area for those caps is part of the footprint budget.
It is ROHS3 compliant.
