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Boost your PC with one of these drives for faster overall performance.
If you’re into gaming, photos, video, or just looking to add lots of speedy storage to a desktop or laptop, an M.2 SSD (Solid State Drive) is the preferred way to do it.
The M.2 SSD packs copious amounts of storage into a device roughly the size of—and often not much thicker than—a stick of chewing gum. Moreover, most—though not all—M.2 SSDs support newer interfaces that can move data in and out of those storage chips much faster.
It wasn’t always so easy to add storage. For decades, PC storage was synonymous with bulky, mechanical hard drives. The first hard drive was sold in 1956, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that they became available to consumers, and the 90s before hard drive actually went mainstream.
SSDs have been in existence in one form or another since the late 1970s, but it was only in the last decade or so that you could buy one. SSDs drives greatly improve performance and reliability by storing data on chips instead of spinning magnetic platters. Since SSDs have no moving parts versus mechanical hard drives which do, there’s less chance for something to go wrong.
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A conventional SSD (it looks a lot like a mechanical hard drive) is primarily designed a as drop-in replacement for their hard drive predecessors, so they’re not only bigger than they need to be, but they’re also hamstrung by an aging interface called SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) which prevents an SSD’s speedy storage chips from reaching their full performance potential.
Although most desktops or laptops built within the past five to seven years should accommodate an M.2 SSD, there are exceptions. Second, not all M.2 SSDs are the same, because "M.2" is an actually an umbrella term for modules that come in certain standardized shapes and sizes. M.2 SSDs may use one of a few different interfaces, and which one of these interfaces your PC supports determines the level of performance you can expect—or whether it will work in your PC at all.
A prerequisite to any M.2 SSD purchase then is to consult your desktop or laptop’s motherboard specs to verify not only the presence of an M.2 socket, but to determine its capabilities. PC manufacturers don’t always put this information in the owner’s manual, however, a bit of Google-Fu (be sure you use the exact model of your PC in searches) should turn up the information you need. For example, the spec sheet for my circa-2020 Dell XPS 8940 desktop supports the “M.2 2280/2230 M-key (PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe)”.
Most desktop and laptops support M.2 “2280” modules, a label that refers to the device’s width and length (22mm and 80mm, respectively). While M.2 2280 modules represent the lion’s share of the market, other lengths do exist, including 30, 42, and 60 mm. (A 30mm M.2 is labeled “2230”, and so on). Although it’s not especially common, some laptops—ones that are older or with very small footprints—may only accommodate shorter-length modules. Some, as indicated by the specifications of my PC mentioned above, may support multiple lengths.
Modern M.2 SSDs connect to the PC via one of two versions of the PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) interface, either Gen 3 or Gen 4 (also called 3.0 and 4.0) and use a communication protocol called NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express). Compared to SATA, which offers a maximum of about 600 MB/s (Megabytes per second) of throughput, PCIe 3 can provide up to 3.9 GB/s (Gigabytes per second, more than a sixfold increase) while PCI 4 doubles that to 7.8 GB/s.
If your PC supports a PCIe/NVMe-based M.2 SSD, that’s the way to go. Most PCs manufactured within the past five years or so should support PCIe 3, while support for PCIe 4 is more recent and thus less common. The two PCIe standards are backward-compatible, so if you install a PCIe 4 M.2 SSD in a system that supports PCIe 3, or vice-versa, it will still work, albeit at a lower level of performance. (Note: Performance is also determined by the type of storage chips, known as NAND Flash Memory, and other components an M.2 SSD uses, so two devices equipped with the same interface may have somewhat different performance.)
If your PC lacks support for PCIe/NVMe-based M.2 SSDs, opt for one that uses SATA. Although a SATA-based M.2 SSD’s performance won’t generally be any better than an SSD that uses the conventional hard drive form-factor (since they both communicate via the same SATA interface), it’s still many times faster than a mechanical hard drive.
Also check the connector type an M.2 SSD uses. M.2 SSDs with a PCIe/NVMe interface have a connector with one notch known as an “M-key”. The connector on a SATA-based M.2 SSD has two notches and is known as a “B+M key”. On the PC side, the M.2 socket will almost always be an M-key connector. An M-key M.2 SSD will work just fine in an M-key M.2 socket while a B+M key M.2 SSD will physically fit in an M-key socket, but may or may not work, depending on which interface(s) your system supports.
As a rule, buy the largest-capacity M.2 SSD your budget allows. Storage is frequently something you think you have enough of until suddenly, you don’t. Unless your storage needs are truly minimal (e.g., you keep your data solely in the cloud and don’t need local copies of most of your files), don’t consider anything smaller than 500 GB. Give yourself some room to grow. Installing an M.2 SSD takes enough effort—especially on some laptops-- that you probably won’t want to do it more than once if you can help it.
Read and write times are another metric to help you choose an SSD. The faster, the better, meaning faster boot times, quicker application launches, and better overall system performance. Sequential read/write means reading/writing contiguous areas of storage, whereas random refers to reading/writing random areas of storage. The former is a good metric of performance when you're predominantly dealing with large files—creating/playing videos, for example, as those files can be exceedingly large. The latter is a better indicator of overall performance, so more relevant for the general usage.
That said, there isn't really a target performance number to recommend, other than "higher is better," because the performance you actually get depends on whether your PC supports the same standard the M.2 SSD does and the specific applications you use. Note the performance numbers here are what the manufacturer claims, not necessarily what may be ultimately achieved.
I selected these M.2 SSDs based on several criteria including features, price, value, capacity, and rated performance figures. All the selections here are M.2 2280 modules (the most widely supported), and most are in the price/capacity sweet spot between 500 GB and 2 TB. You will generally pay a lot more per GB of storage when you go over 2 TB.
Although the rated performance is average (up to 2100 MB/sec for sequential reads, 1600 MB/s for sequential writes), Kingston’s been a name in storage for a long time, so it’s no surprise they offer good bang for the buck. If you’re on a tight budget, this option gives you 500 GB of storage for considerably under $1 per GB.
Samsung makes all its own SSD components, and it shows given that the SAMSUNG 980 PRO's performance ratings are about as good as it gets (up to 7000 MB/s read, 5100 MB/s write). Also included is software to monitor drive health as well as encrypt and update the device. This type of software tends to be vendor-specific; some companies offer it and some don't.
If you need lots of capacity, but you’re on a limited budget, the PNY CS2130 4TB M.2 NVMe Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) M280CS2130-4TB-RB gives you 4 TB and rings up for significantly less than most other M.2 SSDs of the same capacity. It also comes with a five-year warranty and offers U.S.-based tech support.
It’s by no means cheap, but if you want both high performance and high capacity (and your system supports PCIe 4), the Seagate FireCuda 530 4TB Solid State Drive is an excellent choice. It’s rated performance of up to 7250 MB/s read and 6900 MB/sec write is comparable to the Samsung 980 Pro which is also on our list (but you can’t get the Samsung one in a 4 TB capacity). The FireCuda also includes three years of Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery Services, which claims 95 percent success against unexpected data loss.
If you’re the type that likes to show off the innards of a custom-built desktop PC, this viewpoint e XPG S40G 1TB RGB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe 1.3 M.2 2280 Internal SSD (AS40G-1TT-C) has customizable RBG lighting effects to bathe your rig in an otherworldly glow. Since folks who build their own PCs tend to put them in cases with a clear panel to make the internal components visible, this SSD adds LED lighting.
If your system has an M.2 socket that’s not compatible with the latest PCIe/NVMe standards, the AData ADATA SU650 1TB M.2 (ASU650NS38-1TT-C) will work in your system, though it will admittedly will not perform anywhere near the level of a PCIe/NVMe M.2 SSD (550 MB/s reads, 510 MB/s writes, ). The low performance is a limitation of the SATA interface, not of the product itself. As a bonus, it includes migration software for copying the contents of a previous hard drive or SSD.
PM: My desktop PC doesn’t have an M.2 socket. Am I out of luck?
JM: Not necessarily. If your PC has a free PCIe slot (and chances are it does) you can use an M.2 PCIe expansion card (generally between $15 and $50) to add up to four M.2 SSDs to your PC.
PM: How much effort does it take to access the M.2 socket inside a laptop?
JM: That depends on the laptop. At the very least, you’ll likely need to remove the entire bottom cover (usually 10 screws, often of varying length, so note which one goes where), but some laptops may require further disassembly to access the M.2 socket. Definitely consult the service manual or check out a YouTube video in advance to see how involved the process will be.
PM: Is there any reason to choose a hard drive over an M.2 SSD these days?
JM: Yes, if you absolutely need the most storage at the lowest possible cost. For example, an internal 8 TB hard drive can be had for as little as $150. In contrast, an 8 TB M.2 SSD will set you back between $1,200 and $1,500. Need even more storage? A 16 TB hard drive currently carries a price tag of around $350, but an M.2 SSD of equivalent capacity…is not even a thing. (At least, not for consumers—yet.)
PM: Do I need to buy an SSD that comes with a warranty?
JM: Yes. Luckily most M.2 SSDs (and all the ones featured here) come with a three- or five-year warranty. Remember that the warranty doesn’t protect your data though—so always back it up.