The best SSDs for a laptop
254 drives meet the rule below, 86 of them with a live Amazon listing. M.2 NVMe drives in the lengths laptops accept, plus mSATA for older ultrabooks. Ranked by rated sequential read.
What is on this list
A drive is included when it meets all of:
- M.2 NVMe in a laptop-compatible length (22110 excluded, as it is a desktop and server length)
- mSATA drives, for machines that predate M.2
What this data does not tell you:
- Whether a drive is single-sided or double-sided is not in our source data, and thin laptops often only clear a single-sided drive. Confirm this for the specific model.
- Idle power draw, which is what battery life actually depends on, is also not published consistently enough to compare here.
- Many laptops solder the storage down or only take a 2230 drive. Check what your machine uses before buying.
Ranked by read
The top 20 of 254 are listed. The full SSD catalogue filters on every spec.
| # | Model | Tier | Controller | Read MB/s | TBW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sabrent ROCKET 4 PLUS 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7200 | 2800 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 |  Samsung 980 PRO 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | SAMSUNG ELPIS CONTROLLER (Samsung | 7000 | 1200 | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 |  TeamGroup CARDEA A440 M.2 PCIe 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | 1400 | Check price on Amazon |
| 4 |  Samsung 960 PRO M.2 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | SAMSUNG POLARIS CONTROLLER (5-Core | 3500 | 1200 | Check price on Amazon |
| 5 |  ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Innogrit IG5236 “Rainier” Controll | 7400 | 1480 | Find on Amazon |
| 6 |  ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Innogrit IG5236 “Rainier” Controll | 7400 | 1480 | Find on Amazon |
| 7 |  Patriot VIPER GAMING VP4300 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Innogrit IG5236 “Rainier” Controll | 7400 | 2000 | Find on Amazon |
| 8 |  Mushkin GAMMA 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7175 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 9 |  Addlink S95 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7100 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 10 |  Western Digital WD BLACK™ SN850 NVMe 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | WD_BLACK G2 | Sandisk Modelo 20-82 | 7000 | 1200 | Find on Amazon |
| 11 |  Anacomda i4 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | — | Find on Amazon |
| 12 |  Corsair Gen4 PCIe MP600 Pro 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 13 | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | 1400 | Find on Amazon | |
| 14 |  Galax HALL OF FAME EXTREME 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | — | Find on Amazon |
| 15 |  Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 16 |  Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 7000s Premium 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 17 |  MSI SPATIUM M480 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | — | 7000 | 1400 | Find on Amazon |
| 18 |  Reletech P400 EVO 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5018-E18 (TSMC 12nm, 8 Ca | 7000 | — | Find on Amazon |
| 19 |  ADATA XPG GAMMIX S50 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5016-E16 (TSMC 28nm, 2-Co | 5000 | 3600 | Find on Amazon |
| 20 |  Addlink S90 1TB, 2TB | Top-tier | Phison PS5016-E16 (TSMC 28nm, 800M | 5000 | 3600 | Find on Amazon |
Length is the first constraint
2280 is the common laptop length and the default assumption for most machines. Compact and handheld designs use 2230 or 2242 instead, and those are not interchangeable. The manual or a teardown photo settles it faster than a spec sheet.
Generation rarely matters in a laptop
Plenty of laptops wire the M.2 slot for PCIe 3.0. Fitting a Gen4 drive there is harmless but gains nothing, so a well-specified Gen3 drive is often the more sensible purchase.
Heat and power
A laptop M.2 slot has little airflow, and the fastest desktop drives will throttle in one. A mid-range drive that runs cool will usually hold a higher sustained speed in a thin chassis than a flagship that overheats.
Common questions
Can I upgrade any laptop's SSD?
No. Many thin laptops solder storage to the board. Where there is a slot, check its length, whether it is NVMe or SATA-only, and whether the chassis clears a double-sided drive.
Does a faster SSD hurt battery life?
Under load a faster drive draws more power, but storage is a small share of a laptop's total draw. Idle behaviour matters more than peak speed, and it is rarely published.