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How to find an SSD for your laptop
Are you looking to upgrade your laptop hard drive to an SSD (solid state drive)? Maybe you need a gaming laptop SSD that'll give you better performance.
Whatever your reason, finding the best SSD for your laptop can be a daunting process.
Crucial has made it easy to find the best laptop SSD for you. Use our Crucial® Advisor™ or System Scanner tool, or take a look at our comprehensive range of SSDs.
Why you might need a new SSD for your laptop
Most people looking to upgrade the SSD for their laptop are concerned with 1) storing more data (photos, music, videos, etc.) or 2) running applications and programs more quickly.
Gaming laptop SSDs are the exception, where you'll have particular needs for FPS and responsiveness.
But, before looking at your specific data needs, you'll need to know about your form factors – after all, the best SSD for a laptop is one that fits!
Gaming laptop SSDs are the exception, where you'll have particular needs for FPS and responsiveness.
But, before looking at your specific data needs, you'll need to know about your form factors – after all, the best SSD for a laptop is one that fits!
Laptop SSD form factors
Laptop SSD hard drives come in a range of different shapes and physical sizes, and you'll need to install one that works with your laptop's form factors.
The 2.5-inch drive was formerly the only commercially-available size available for laptop SSDs. This has changed, and there are now SSD laptop drives available in both 2.5-inch and M.2.
Your laptop's drive slots should be labelled with the size you'll need, or you can look these up in your owner's manual.
Laptop SSD connection protocols
You'll also want to check the connection protocol for your laptop SSD drive. The most common connectors are SATA, mSATA, and PCIe.
Again, you can look this information up in your owner's manual. Or the Crucial Advisor™ or System Scanner tools will indicate the size of the drive and connection protocol you'll need.
Laptop SSD capacities
The biggest choice you'll have the opportunity to make is the data capacity of your new SSD laptop drive. Most drives are sold with data capacities between 120GB and 2TB.
And while small SSD capacities come with a lower price tag, you may find yourself having to upgrade your laptop SSD more frequently. You'll want to balance the size of the drive with your current budget and your future date needs.
If you're having difficulty fitting your data on a laptop solid state drive that you can afford, read here for strategies to clean up your computer without losing valuable files.
Laptop SSD uses
Planning your future usage needs will help you decide on the best SSD laptop drive for you.
If you're looking for a laptop SSD upgrade and you’ve got M.2 computability, then consider an NVMe SSD drive.
SATA users will find that the Crucial MX500 is a great starting place for all-round data needs.
Either way – remember to avoid locking yourself into a small SSD that you'll need to replace…again!
If you're after a gaming laptop SSD, Crucial has a dedicated gaming product range from which to choose.
And if you'd like to know how to add an SSD to your laptop, then you can read our guides on installing a 2.5 inch or an M.2 SSD drive.
Conclusion
The most important thing about a laptop SSD hard drive is making sure that you get a compatible one.
You need to consider the size, shape, connection protocol, and capacity.
Because of the existing hardware in your laptop, only the capacity of the drive is in your control.
To make things easier, use the Crucial Advisor™ tool or System Scanner tool, and then you can choose your new laptop SSD drive based on your budget.