Builders are also tapping into the M.2 slot to create additional I/O options, including COM, LAN, USB ports and more.
#Drive ahead on pc Bluetooth#
So what lies ahead for the M.2 slot? M.2-based wireless cards are providing WiFi, 4G, and Bluetooth capabilities, often including a combination of these technologies in a single card. As form factors continue to shrink, and hard drive capacities climb, M.2 continues to establish itself as a standard, particularly for SSDs installed on Intel and AMD-based NUC form factor systems. mSATA hard drives were well established and many motherboards were not compatible with the latest expansion ports. When the technology launched, there were some issues with general lack of support for M.2 SSD hard drives. M.2 SSDs AND BEYOND – NEW APPLICATIONS EMERGING These same improvements are true for other expansion devices as well. This means that a PCIe 4.0 based M.2 SSD drive can transfer data at up to 10x the speed of a traditional SSD. PCIe 4.0 can transfer data at 16Gb/s per lane (the number after the “x” in PCIe is the number of lanes, so PCIe x2 has two lanes).
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This is pretty fast, but not even close to PCIe. The latest SATA technology can transfer data at a max of 6Gb/s (Six gigabits per second). Before M.2, SSDs were working off of the SATA bus. So what does all of this keying and bus interoperability mean for the average computer? In a nutshell it is leading to faster, more flexible and more available storage and expansion than previous solutions. There are emerging keys slated for future development as the M.2 form factor continues to show its versatility. The table below shows how each of those keys varies: There are 4 common types of keys in usage today, each being assigned a letter for identification. Some cards with multiple usages receive multiple keys. The M.2 slot usage determines the key, preventing an incompatible card from plugging into a motherboard. The technical reason behind the keys rests in the fact that M.2 can take advantage of the PCIe, USB, Display, Audio, I2C or SATA busses on the motherboard. However M.2 is so robust from a technological standpoint that it requires these multiple variations. At first glance this may seem like a superfluous and unnecessary change.
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With several different lengths and many keys, it comes in dozens of different variations. Keys are notches in the card preventing you from plugging in the wrong kind of device. Also, it has several different kinds of keys. It is unique because the standard has a wide variety of sizes for its cards.
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M.2 is physically different than Mini PCIe, meaning that older mSATA drives and expansion (like wireless cards) will not work in M.2. What is M.2? What is M.2 used for? And how does M.2 work?
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#Drive ahead on pc series#
This new standard, called M.2 (formally Next Generation Form Factor, or NGFF), is being utilized as a M.2 SSD hard drive in our Helix Series of Industrial Computers and Karbon Series of Rugged Industrial Computers. However, a new standard emerged that has been dramatically improving how we use internal expansion. In the same vein, mini PCIe is allowing easy expansion in smaller computers and on Mini-ITX motherboards. There was a time, not that long ago, when mSATA was the standard for people looking to add compact, solid state storage to their hardware.