Aspire 7 A715 74G or 75G

DaveP

Hi.

Please could someone in the UK confirm that this laptop has 2 x m.2 slots?

The reviews suggest it has with photo evidence, but Acer UK tell me it only has one. 

Many thanks. 

Dave. 

DaveP

Many thanks for the reply and information. 

JackE

The NVME would be restricted by the number of mainboard PCIe bus lanes to the CPU, similar to a highway analogy. Some mainboards only have a single PCIe SATA lane. Some have two lanes and an NVME card should work a twice the SATA card speed. Some have four lanes and an  NVME care should work at four times the SATA card speed. The NVME is supposed to be backward compatible with a single lane mainboard. I use the terms ***should*** and ***supposed to*** because some NVME cards  don't work or even physically fit the SATA speed socket due to card key slots and socket keys that don't line up. Some older SATA sockets have two keys (B+M keys) that won't accept a single M slot nvme card.   Jack E/NJ

brummyfan2

Hi,
A715-74G has two M.2 SSD slots, one is PCIe only and the other is for PCIe/SATA, A715-75G has only one M.2 SSD slot.

DaveP

Many thanks for the reply and information. 

JackE

According to the worldwide specsheet for the 74G, two side-by-side m.2 sockets and one 2.5" HDD/SSD connector. One m.2 is for a SATA3 card. The other for a SATA3 or nvme card.

The 75G however only has one m.2 SATA socket. Jack E/NJ

DaveP

Thanks for the info and diagrams. 

DaveP

JackE said:

According to the worldwide specsheet for the 74G, two side-by-side m.2 sockets and one 2.5" HDD/SSD connector. One m.2 is for a SATA3 card. The other for a SATA3 or nvme card.

The 75G however only has one m.2 SATA socket. Jack E/NJ

Could I ask where you sourced the diagrams from and is there some text to go with them explaining the port discriptions? Many thanks again. 

JackE

From specsheets see below. Jack E/NJ

DaveP

JackE said:

From specsheets see below. Jack E/NJ

Thanks for that. How do you know the one single m.2 slot on the 75G is sata only? Seems a strange
design choice on the part of Acer.

Thanks. 

JackE

It should accept and use both SATA3 and NVME cards but not necessarily any speed difference between the two. Because mainboard production variations, you would have to run HWInfo64 to see if the PCIe bus can support 2xSATA or 4xSATA NVME speeds. The safest assumption is that it will only support SATA speeds with an NVME card installed. Jack E/NJ

DaveP

JackE said:

It should accept and use both SATA3 and NVME cards but not necessarily any speed difference between the two. Because mainboard production variations, you would have to run HWInfo64 to see if the PCIe bus can support 2xSATA or 4xSATA NVME speeds. The safest assumption is that it will only support SATA speeds with an NVME card installed. Jack E/NJ

Thanks Jack. 

Excuse my ignorance but I'm not fully understanding you. 

If the m.2 slot accepts both SATA and NVMe, why and how would the NVMe be restricted to SATA3 speeds? 
Presumably, for the NVMe drive to work at all, it would need access to the PCIe bus, and seeing as the chipset (HM370) supports at least gen 3x2, surely that means the NVMe drive would operate as designed? 

I'm no expert by the way, so I'm looking to be educated, and I'm definitely not doubting your advice! It's very much appreciated. 

Thanks.

JackE

The NVME would be restricted by the number of mainboard PCIe bus lanes to the CPU, similar to a highway analogy. Some mainboards only have a single PCIe SATA lane. Some have two lanes and an NVME card should work a twice the SATA card speed. Some have four lanes and an  NVME care should work at four times the SATA card speed. The NVME is supposed to be backward compatible with a single lane mainboard. I use the terms ***should*** and ***supposed to*** because some NVME cards  don't work or even physically fit the SATA speed socket due to card key slots and socket keys that don't line up. Some older SATA sockets have two keys (B+M keys) that won't accept a single M slot nvme card.   Jack E/NJ

KPS1

Hi

Just been reading through this thread and like a few others,  I'm a little confused. 
If the specs show the 74g has JSSD! & JSSD2 both as M+B-key connectors, why would it be assumed that the 74g can only support SATA speeds? 

JackE

You'd have to actually check the mainboard's m.2 sockets to see if they have two key protrusions (B+M) instead a one B protrusion and/or one M protrusion. If B+M or B, then only a SATA3 card would fit. If M, then both SATA3 and NVME cards would fit. Jack E/NJ

brummyfan2

KPS1 said:

Hi

Just been reading through this thread and like a few others,  I'm a little confused. 
If the specs show the 74g has JSSD! & JSSD2 both as M+B-key connectors, why would it be assumed that the 74g can only support SATA speeds? 

Hi,
Both models support M.2 NVMe SSD.
Acer Aspire A715-74G Performance Results - UserBenchmark
Acer Aspire A715-75G Performance Results - UserBenchmark