Can a desktop SSD be put into a laptop?

[Zucc]

Is the desktop connector port for SSD different from the laptop port connector?

[Fasauceome]

Any 2.5" SATA SSD would be fine. M.2 SSDs are a different story.

 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

M.2 SSDs are a different story.

No, they aren't. M.2 is M.2, whether it's in a laptop or a desktop. M.2 SATA works just the same on desktops and laptops, as long as the devices support M.2 SATA and the same goes for M.2 NVMe.

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

No, they aren't. M.2 is M.2, whether it's in a laptop or a desktop. M.2 SATA works just the same on desktops and laptops, as long as the devices support M.2 SATA and the same goes for M.2 NVMe.

There are lots of laptops that have M.2 whitelists. It's been a problem on previous Dell models that will only accept NVMe and SATA M.2 doesn't work.

 

And on desktop it's also the case that older motherboards have M.2 slots that only work with NVMe. Z97 boards, for example.

[WereCatf]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

There are lots of laptops that have M.2 whitelists. It's been a problem on previous Dell models that will only accept NVMe and SATA M.2 doesn't work.

That's not a whitelist. A whitelist is where the BIOS contains a list of specific devices that are allowed, not the protocol they use, like e.g. only allowing you to use Dell-brand storage-devices in a Dell-laptop. As for only accepting NVMe or only accepting SATA, yes, but that has nothing to do with the device being a laptop or a desktop.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

As for only accepting NVMe or only accepting SATA, yes, but that has nothing to do with the device being a laptop or a desktop.

To the original questions:

Is the connector for desktop and laptop drives the same? Yes.

 

Can a desktop SSD be put inside a laptop? Most of the time.

[mariushm]

In the past, laptops used mSATA connectors, which are different than current SATA connectors.

Nowadays there's either regular SATA, or M.2 which can be either nvme, sata or both.

 

As for 2.5" drives, most laptops have a limitation in the HEIGHT of a drive... a lot of them will accept a drive up to 9mm thick, and a lot of them allow a maximum of 7mm height.  Most SATA SSDs you can buy in stores should be 7mm tall, but you should double check.

 

Some laptops will have m.2 connectors that support only nvme (pci-e based) SSDs, some will only support SATA M.2 drives, a lot of them will support both.  Again, check specs of the laptop.

 

It's also a good idea to check the maximum size of the M.2 drive you can install. Most laptops should have enough room to fit a M.2 2280  (kinda standard) but some laptops may have a 2nd m.2 or all m.2 just up to m.2 2242 or even m.2 2230 (rare)

The number is just the width and length in mm, so if you can open your laptop you can simply use a ruler to measure how long the space is, if there's no printed text on the board, or if it's not specified in the manual.

 

Laptop manufacturers don't usually whitelist drives (sony and microsoft and their consoles excluded), it's not common. 

 

It was and probably still is to have some miniPCIe wireless cards whitelisted in bios, making it difficult to use wireless cards from other brands into your laptop - the justification for this is that they have to test and validate that the wireless card's radios work within the laws of the country or region the laptop is sold, that it doesn't radiate or broadcast in unallowed frequencies and crap like that...

 

I suppose you could have such a wireless card installed in a m.2 connector nowadays, so it wouldn't be impossible for some particular m.2 connector to be restricted to only wireless cards or something like that, but it's really unlikely.