My contribution to the discussion. M2s are generally far faster than SSDs, both are faster than HHD's which are now redundant except for bulk storage. If your laptop has a HHD probably the laptop is old. You can upgrade it,(check to make sure its got a port for SSD plug first) but I would wonder if it's time for a new laptop or even a dedicated music PC. Over the COVID and Chip crisis laptops don't seem to have kept up with desktops IMO.
If I were to buy a laptop for music I would be looking for 1TB m2 and 32 gb of ram minimum. That would be a bear minimum - I don't think most laptops would pass this test. M2 prices have dropped, they generally outclass all SSDs, but you do need a slot for them on the motherboard (or an expansion card), and as with SSDs the "maximum" speed depends on the PCI lanes of the motherboard. I have PCI 3 here on my mobo/PC, but even that is old tech. SSD generally run at about 550 MBps, M2's run at anything from 2000- 7500, with most running at around 3500.

Sounds like your into using music apps. Advice for BIAB is one thing, advice for a general music machine is another. If you intent to make use of a lot of MIDI VST sample work in your sequencer, then more RAM is better.

Last edited by ZeroZero; 06/23/22 01:25 AM.
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k