# Choice of M.2 SSD



## BorisDG (Jul 18, 2014)

I need opinion about two M.2 /NGFF/ SSD brands for my laptop. I have the following options:

Crucial M500 SSD, PCIe M.2 - 120 GB
Kingston SSDNOW M.2 - 120GB

Which is better? Reliability, speed, warranty.


----------



## BorisDG (Jul 19, 2014)

62,640 members and no one have an idea?  Really?  I thought that is hardware forum.


----------



## Hood (Jul 20, 2014)

It depends on whether it will hold 2280 sized drives, and how the M.2 slot is wired; some are SATA, some are PCIe, some will handle both types of drive (the drive's controller chip is one or the other, the motherboard's M.2 slot must match the drive or be universal).  Your laptop manual should specify.  If it's SATA only, the Crucial M550 M.2 256GB (SATA controller) is the fastest, most reliable choice (for now).  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148798   If it's PCIe or universal, the Plextor M6e M.2 256GB is 40% faster than SATA drives - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9046&cm_re=plextor_m6e-_-20-249-046-_-Product   According to some reviews, the Plextor isn't any faster than top SATA drives at common 4k writes, even though it's on a faster PCIe x 2 interface.  Soon there will be a flood of options and some truly fast drives will emerge, but for now the major players have yet to release their flagship M.2 drives, so waiting will improve your choices greatly, especially in the shorter 2240 and 2260 size if you're limited to that.


----------



## BorisDG (Jul 21, 2014)

The laptop is Lenovo Y510p.

Here is the picture of the slot itself.


----------



## RCoon (Jul 21, 2014)

Crucial.
I personally don't touch Kingston SSD's with a barge pole anymore. Two of our cashless catering systems are running on them as that's what the company chose to provide (we had no choice in the matter). So far each SSD has been replaced at least once. On the contrary, we have Crucial's in our 2+ year old machines, and Samsung EVO's in all our new machines, with only one single failure out of around ~500 machines total.


----------



## BorisDG (Jul 22, 2014)

So all M.2 SATA drivers should fit in this? What's about 2280/2260/2240 sizes mentioned in Hood's post? On the PCB next to the screw hole there is H26 - I need 2260 or?


----------



## Hood (Jul 22, 2014)

BorisDG said:


> So all M.2 SATA drivers should fit in this? What's about 2280/2260/2240 sizes mentioned in Hood's post? On the PCB next to the screw hole there is H26 - I need 2260 or?


It's hard to tell what will work, because I found no mention of the socket anywhere in the laptop's manual or online specs.  You may have to contact Lenovo for more info...


----------



## Lewis Arnold (Jan 23, 2015)

Hi. Like BorisDG, I am weighing up the Crucial M500 120gb M.2 versus the KingstonSSDnow 120gb M.2 for my Lenovo Yoga 2 13 notebook. I am confident both fit (I.e. are 2280) and are compatible so that is not an issue. My question is about which to go for. 

Crucial has a better reputation for stability but the write time of 130MBps is far below that of the Kingston which is up to 550MBps. Both are the same price.

I'm not too worried about stability so putting that aside the Kingston seems like the much better choice in terms of speed. Or am I missing something?

Replies gratefully appreciated.


----------



## Dacur (Jan 23, 2015)

Difference between 2280/2260/2240 is: 22 is width and 80/60/40 length of card.


----------



## Lewis Arnold (Jan 23, 2015)

Thanks for replying Dacur. Both the cards I mentioned are 2280. I was just wondering whether the Kingston is faster at writing than the Crucial?


----------



## Dacur (Jan 23, 2015)

Yes Kingston is faster: 330 mb, Crucial: 132


----------

