WeeveSter said:

I'm considering doing this but I want to know if my laptop supports the PCI-Express 3.0 x4 m2. I read another thread where a guy said it only supported x2 or two lanes, so slower than what you'd pay for. My laptop is

Aspire A515-51

WeeveSter said:

I can't see an SSD generating so much heat it causes a problem. Hard drives will get much more hot, especially an older 5400 RPM HDD that it came with, yet there is no specific fan just for the HDD in the unit. Maybe if the SSD was constantly running 24hrs a day but I don't see that. Do you work for Acer?. How is this reduction in lanes available accomplished?. Is it a special bios?. It seems counter productive to limit the capability of the motherboard like that. Did Acer run tests proving this theory that an Nvme m2 connected SSD gets so hot that it causes problems?. Before limiting the motherboard capabilities it would make more sense to make design changes with possibly an added fan or something. I mean if you are going to have that slot available for use you might as well look into things like this before essentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 

Samsung actually already has something called "Dynamic Thermal Throttling" that will throttle the drive when it get too hot. Also it takes a lot before this technology even kicks in. You really have to work the SSD hard.

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/samsung-960-pro-512gb-m2-nvme-pcie-solid-state-drive/thermal-throttling-and-final-thoughts.html

There may not even be a problem with these drives producing too much heat under normal use conditions. I'd really like to know if Acer did any kind of testing on this, or just "assumed" it'd be a problem.

WeeveSter said:

Took a look at that link and although those guys seem to be freaking out over higher temperatures it doesn't seem to cause an actual problem with the drives. However there are also some heatsinks that you can install if you want them cooler. Those guys are either running their SSD too hard or there is an actual problem with, maybe with a firmware update it would fix it or they just have to RMA their drives. Point is that artificially lower the capability of the motherboard isn't going to help a manufacturer defect with product that attaches to that motherboard. I've even search the newegg reviews for "overheat" for Samsung 960 EVO and just found "Pros" where the reviewers say that it does not overheat!. The manufacturer of the product, in this case SSD that has a problem.

I'm guessing that maybe Acer or you say other companies have done this too to avoid liability IF the SSD gets too hot...

Maybe you could find me a link where these companies explain that they do this, or write a bios to disable two of the lanes for the M.2 Slot M key socket 3 configuration?. That would be very helpful.

Thanks a lot for you time and for the help.

At this point I'm not sure it's worth it anymore to upgrade to the m.2 Nvme SSD. The 500GB one is around $230 at new egg, and this laptop is only worth a little more than $400. $449 with free shipping at Wal-Mart.com. So I'd be paying a little over 50% of the total cost of the laptop to upgrade it to an SSD that I paying for 4 lanes and only get half that. So it doesn't seem worth it. Maybe a Sata 3 2.5 500 GB drive might be worth it since it would cost a lot less but still be a lot faster than the 5400 rpm mechanical drive that came with it. Still have not decided yet. 

@WeeveSter Could you please visit other manufacturers' forums and you will find many instances of this type of query(regarding the speed of NVMe SSD).