The Samsung SSD 990 Pro, the company's flagship PCI Express 4.0 NVMe internal solid-state drive, has a hard act to follow in the Editors' Choice-winning SSD 980 Pro, but for the most part it makes a great product even better. This power-efficient drive gets high marks for raw speed, everyday application performance, a strong software suite, and hardware-based encryption. The heatsink-equipped version of this drive performed slightly better than the non-heatsink version (which we tested using our testbed's motherboard's heatsink) in most of our benchmarks. It doesn't quite merit the 980 Pro's Editors' Choice award, because other recent internal SSDs have outpaced it in our gaming benchmarks, but its overall capability makes this Samsung a versatile drive well-suited for creative tasks. Who It's For System designers and builders rely on consistent storage products. Kingston offers the following benefits with the design-in SSD product line: Endurance Limit – The endurance limit remains similar across both M.2 2242 and M.2 2280 at 2.4 TBW per GB A Few Points Before We Conclude

Controller determines M.2 SSD uses SATA or PCI-E channel. For example, Samsung 960 EVO M.2 2280 SSD with Samsung Polaris PCI-E controller, uses PCIe channel. However, PLEXTOR M8VC M.2 SSD with SMI SM2258 SATA controller, uses STAT 3.0 channel. 3. How much difference in performance between channels? The M.2 platform is versatile and supports a wide variety of M.2 cards. M.2 cards can be configured with different hardware and functionality within the M.2 platform. (for example: To suit the individual needs of the computer and provide an array of configuration options for the user.) Physical size is the easiest observable way to distinguish the difference between cards.The M.2 standard uses a numerical naming convention to identify the specific attributes and functionality of the card. The SK Hynix Platinum P41 is a worthy choice for anyone looking to buy a high-performance PCI Express 4.0 NVMe SSD without breaking the bank. It blew away several of our benchmark records. The P41 provides AES hardware-based encryption and a clone utility tool as well as SSD management software. Just be forewarned that with its blistering speed, you will want to add a heatsink, the one item of note that it is missing.The 22 mm width has been an established standard for almost all millimeters difference comes in the form of the length. From that perspective, the M.2 2242 SSD comes with a width of 22 mm, while the length measures 42 mm. The earliest versions of M.2 PCI Express SSDs made use of the PCI Express Gen 2.0 x2 interface, which defines a throughput ceiling that's higher than SATA 3.0's, but not enormously so. That evolved into PCI Express Gen 3.0 x2 and x4, paired with a technology called Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) to propel performance even further, especially with heavy, deeply queued workloads.

The significant differences between the two drives have already been indicated in the above paragraphs. Other variations can vary depending upon the manufacturer of the M.2 SSD drive you have chosen.You have access to an excellent and exceptional transfer speed of up to 560MB/s read and 160MB/s write. The best options for Ultrabooks, notebooks, tablets, portable gaming systems, and smartphones, they have been made to stand the test of time for the future devices. Support for Device Sleep Mode (DevSleep) and Intel Smart Response Technology (ISRT). This will ensure that the devices can completely shut down to save battery, while not sacrificing the response time. M.2 2242 is quite popular as a laptop SSD, while M.2 2280 is used in table motherboards. M.2 2280 beats M.2 2242 both in terms of performance and heat dissipation. With a more extended body, in-depth circuits, it is expected to perform better than the other one. Moreover, with more space and non-compact chip, it provides better heat dissipation too. However, M.2242 is an excellent choice for compact devices such as laptops, notebooks, and tablets. There are four versions of PCI-E specifications: PCI-E X16, PCI-E X8, PCI-E X4, and PCI-E X1. Most PCI-E SSD like Intel 750 series uses PCI-E X4. No. Different motherboards of M.2 interface support different channels. Some support PCI-E only when some compatible with SATA and PCI-E. If you want to buy an M.2 SSD, ensure what channel your PC support. 2. What determines the channel of M.2 SSD? When it comes to an M.2 drive being too long, you’ve got some challenges ahead of you. The physical length of your M.2 device can’t be changed. You also typically can’t remove other components from your motherboard to make room. This means we’re going to have to get creative and think outside of the box to support an M.2 drive that’s physically too long.

Know which bus you're on. In a laptop-upgrade scenario, you're almost certainly swapping out one M.2 drive for another, with the intent of gaining capacity. Make sure you know the specifications of the drive coming out of your system—and whether it's reliant on the SATA or PCI Express bus—so you can install the same, presumably roomier kind going in.You can easily fit smaller M.2 devices into larger M.2 slots. This is something that often trips up people who are building their first PCs. The M.2 slots size doesn’t refer to the connector that the M.2 uses, but rather the length of the card itself. Larger slots can easily accommodate smaller sized cards. The length of the SSD drive has a significant bearing on the performance characteristics of the SSD. Given this fact, since the M.2 2242 is smaller than the M.2 2280, the performance of the latter will be a little better placed in comparison to the M.2 2242. I've used this NVMe SSD to replace the original SSD in a 2017 MacBook Pro, and for all intents and purposes it works well as the main drive for an every day use laptop. Application: M.2 2242 mainly used in laptop while M.2 2260 and M.2 2280 used in the tablet motherboard.