What type of SSD do you need in your laptop?

SATA SSDs are the first generation of SSDs. They can reach a read speed of up to 570MB per second. These first-generation SSDs are generally 5 times faster than a traditional HDD. The most common SATA variant in laptops is a 2.5-inch SSD. These SSDs start your laptop within 15 seconds and load large games within mere moments.

NVMe is a protocol that allows you to reach even higher speeds than with a SATA SSD. This means that an NVMe SSD can reach a 2600MB/s read speed. That's almost 5 times faster than a SATA drive. Do you often use large zip files? If so, we recommend a laptop with NVMe M.2.

The M.2 connector makes sure an SSD can reach higher read and write speeds. This means an NVMe SSD can be used optimally and reach speeds of over 2600MB per second. When a motherboard doesn't have a M.2 connector, an NVMe SSD is connected via a PCIe card that has a M.2 connector. That's why some laptops have a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. If the motherboard does have a direct M.2, you'll see SATA M.2 or NVMe M.2.

Video cards on the motherboard can also be connected by a PCIe connector. When a NVMe SSD is connected to this, it is equipped with the maximum bandwidth and can get the maximum speed from an NVMe SSD. You only notice a difference in speed when you work with large files of 50GB or bigger. Starting Windows and games is just as fast as it is with a traditional SSD.