Confused about the different kinds of SSDs in new laptops and desktop PCs? Our quick guide covers the basics of NVMe, M.2, and SATA drives.

Buying a compatible M.2 SSD for your PC can get confusing. Here's how to make sure your SSD is compatible with your motherboard.

M.2 SSDs: The M.2 form factor is the latest and smallest available SSD form factor. Based on the mSATA (Mini-SATA) standard, the M.2 was designed to maximize PCB usage and minimize its footprint ...

The SATA m.2 drives are just SATA like the 2.5 inch SATA drives, same interface and protocol and speed. Any decent quality SATA SSD will be much, much faster than a spinning drive.

It is fine for spinning disks, as it was designed for, but for any M.2 SSD, the cost difference of going from SATA to NVMe is negligible and the performance benefits are high.

How do NVMe SSDs compare to SATA SSDs, and where does M.2 fit in all of this? Here's a quick rundown to help you buy the right SSD.