Question 1

The picture is very confusing, one picture is of the internal M.2 chip, and the other two are 2.5" SSD(s). Is it really the internal chip being sold here?

Accepted Answer

There are two versions of the X400. One is an m.2 SSD which is this one (looks exposed and like a microcontroller/pcb board. The other is a regular SSD that looks like a rectangular box where all you see is a metal shell. Both of these drives have the same SATA III Interface. However, the m.2 drive connects to an m.2 slot directly on your motherboard like a graphics card would. The other SSD (not m.2) connects via a SATA III cable.

They both offer SSD performance and will perform the same. The difference is that if you choose the m.2 version, and your motherboard supports m.2, then you don't have to use a SATA cable. Just insert it into the m.2 slot like you would a graphics card.

On the other hand, the regular SSD would need a SATA cable to connect to your motherboard. It's your choice, depending on how much space you have to spare in your case AND on your motherboard. M.2 will offer a cleaner look because no cables BUT you will need really good cooling if you don't want to lose drive performance. This is due to the m.2 version not having a way to dissipate the heat it generates, whereas the regular SSD that is covered in metal (like the Samsung 850 EVO and others) does.

So it's up to you

1. Choose m.2 version (chip looking) for less wires. Spend $30 extra on heat sinks for drive (optional but highly recommended)
 ++++Buy IC heat sinks (helps a ton to keep performance on par with the 2nd option)   Get these and no other: Enzotech MOS-C10-LE Forged Copper MOSFET Heatsinks (10 Pack)
++++Buy thermal adhesive: Arctic Silver Arctic Alumina 5g Premium Ceramic Thermal Cooling Adhesive(highly recommend instructions via their website if you haven't used epoxy before, and even if you have because you WILL mess it up if you don't follow the instructions. WARNING: applying thermal paste doesn't count, this is different. With this stuff less is better (too much = damage)

2. Choose regular (box looking) for worry free install - just plug it in.

Overall A+ m.2 drive 10/10

Question 2

Would I be able to use this product to upgrade the SSD in my Macbook Pro with retina display, early 2015?

Accepted Answer

No, as far as I know Apple use only proprietary components because they want you pay 4 times the price at the time you purchase. Also 2015 it may be soldered, if so it is impossible to upgrade at all but just google it. Your best bet is small special made SD type memory cards as the Macs does not have a space for a memory card either, only a reader that leaves the standard card sticking out. Everything to prevent you from adding affordable storage.

Question 3

Does this include the Mounting Screw and Hardware?

Accepted Answer

To my knowledge it does not. As far as hardware you just need a tiny screw, which should be included with your motherboard. It's probably already screwed into the board. Barring that, you can use a screw that fits. By design it will hold itself pretty well without a screw but of course you should screw it in.

Question 4

SanDisk SD8SN8U-512G-1122 X400 M.2 2280 512GB Internal SSD - Works on Dell Lattitude E7270 ?

Accepted Answer

Latitude E7270 has one M.2 slot. The machine comes with the slot already filled, so if you want to upgrade thats fine, but it won't fit another.

Question 5

will this work with a thinkpad x1 carbon 4th generation?

Accepted Answer

This will work with any m.2 slot since has it has both the left and right side key cutout.

Question 6

Once this is partitioned, the capacity went down to 477GB. I figured I'd lose about 12GB but is this nearly 30gb loss normal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as the SSD is factory over-provisioned this is normal. If it were not so you would need to do it yourself to preserve the performance and life of the drive. Because it is factory over-provisioned you don't have to worry about that.

Question 7

My MOBO doesn't have an M2 slot. Will I see a performance decrease if I use a PCIE adapter rather than an M2 slot?

Accepted Answer

No, there won't be a performance penalty.

However, there is no reason for you to buy this M.2 drive if you're going to get an adapter.  
This M.2 drive is SATA-based -- it won't be any faster than if you were to get a 2.5" SATA SSD.  
Both this M.2 drive and a typical SATA SSD will net you around 500-550MB/s read/write.

The only way I would suggest you to purchase a high-quality M.2 drive *in use with* a PCI-E adapter is if you got a PCI-E/NVMe-based M.2 drive, netting you 2000-3000MB/s read/write.

Question 8

Will this work in HP Zbook 15 G3?

Accepted Answer

As long as you have that mounting length (2280) AND your computer has multiple SATA drive support. Your computer will see this as a SATA drive (i.e. 2.5" SATA, etc.). My computer supported 6 drives. have six plugged in WITH this, it didn't recognize the last drive.

Question 9

What type of temperatures does this drive achieve? Virtually every bit if info I've found has been for PCIE based M.2 drives (and those get HOT)

Accepted Answer

I have 4 of them and temperatures have never been a concern. All 4 are in laptop, mounted under the keyboards and they have never gotten hotter than any other SSD I have owned. The laptop I am sitting at right now has been turned on and running for 3 days. It has two X400 in RAID0. One of the X400 is 36°C and the other one is 32°C so no issues.

Question 10

will this work in my Lenovo Yoga 700-11isk?

Accepted Answer

Good choice in M.2 SSD. I have purchased 4 of these and have them running in RAID0 on two notebooks.

If your Lenovo uses 2280 M.2 form factor it should work fine. The original 128GB M.2 is really small. I'm surprised they did not use at least 256GB.

Questions & Answers