M.2 SATAe SSDs / Solid State Drives

Featuring a proprietary M.2 slot, M.2 drives connect directly to the motherboard similar in a manner to that of RAM. Available in two different configurations, M.2 drives can provide speeds equal to that of a standard SATA drive or seek the benefits of those offered by PCIe. When using a PCIe connection transfer speeds increase their read and write to performance to 3000MB/s and 2400MB/s depending on the manufacturer.

In order to make use of the PCIe based transfer speeds, the M.2 drive must be connected with a PCIe adaptor which is then installed to a PCIE slot. Some M.2 drives can be purchased with the PCIe adaptor already installed, these are known as PCIe SSDs. This type of SSD can also be installed in laptops, allowing for a thinner and smaller profile without reducing the amount of available storage.