Should I upgrade my Laptop with a New m2 PCIe Nvme SSD or SATA SSD?

Question

My Laptop is ASUS ROG GL553VD Model, Here is its Summary Hardware Specification:

• Intel i7-7700HQ
• Nvidia GTX1050
• 128GB m2 PCIe Nvme SSD (there is no HHD installed)
• 16GB RAM

I would like to ask for a SSD Hardware Recommendation, as I found that 128GB storage is not enough for me, these are my concerns for the SSD Upgrade:

1. I mostly use my Laptop for Android Mobile Apps Development (using Android Studio Software which is very Performance Demanding), I would like the SSD faster enough to handle Android Studio or other commonly used development software (such as Visual Studio, etc).

2. I would like to Clone my Digital Licensed Windows 10 from my current 128GB m2 PCIe Nvme SSD and Boot the Windows 10 in the Hardware, so it is expected to able to support Clone Windows Feature and able to boot up in a very fast manner.

3. I would like to ensure the Hardware to be Cost-efficient type, where it does not Overprice (such as low price ADATA SSD compare to high price SAMSUNG SSD)

4. I would like the Hardware to be As Reliable as possible

5. Storage Space should above 300GB.

6. Budget Around RM500 (USD 120).

I been considering whether to replace my current 128GB m2 PCIe Nvme SSD to a new 512GB m2 PCIe Nvme SSD or I should simply get a new SATA SSD which would keep my current 128GB m2 PCIe Nvme SSD instead,

My Biggest Concerns is:

• is the extra speed of m2 PCIe Nvme SSD (1000mb read/write speed) really able to help me in most of my Workload compare to a SATA SSD (500mb read/write speed)?

Your Experienced recommendations, advises, opinions is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Personally I would not throw away that 126 GB PCI-e SSD as you've already paid good money for that drive. Based on your spec sheet, you have one more SATA III slot that can accept a 2.5" Drive. Unless your PCIe drive is giving you problems from a speed perspective it is not worth replacing that drive. You likely won't see that much of a speed difference in visual studio build speed unless you're like me and have allocated a part of your RAM for application development (I build applications on a RAM disk for speed and even with non PCI-e drives it can build GB sized applications almost instantaneously).

That being said, you should keep your Visual Studio related program files to your primary SSD and send all your other junk to a slightly slower SATA SSD or HDD. This is going to be a lot more economical especially with the budget you specified.

I've recommended you Drives that can ship to a Malaysian address today.

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SAMSUNG 860 EVO 500 GB RM 455 + RM 5 Shipping

It turns out this SSD option is exactly your budget. Owning a 840 EVO I can tell you these SSDs are excellent and come at a very reasonable price. Also here is a Amazon link in case you find Amazon can offer a better price for your location. I'm not familiar with the South-Eastern Asian Markets so it's hard for me to cull prices specific to Malaysia.

• 477 MB/s Read
• 423 MB/s Write

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Seagate Barracuda 500GB (ST500LM030) RM 158 + RM 5 Shipping

In addition, I'll recommend a HDD, as you may not need that much speed for your additional files. HDD are very much under budget and I've taken care to recommend you one of the highest benchmarking HDDs at its price point. Here's the Amazon link for this as well.

• Data Transfer Rate: Up to 140 MB/s

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Finally if you really want, you can completely replace your PCI-e SSD with another one. I would recommend the Samsung 960 Evo, but only the 250 GB variant is under budget. Samsung also comes with cloning software so you can make a completely copy of your system onto any Samsung SSD and just plug it in and operate like normal. I've used Samsung's cloning software and can tell you its pretty painless.