SSD's PCIe, M.2 or just SATA?

Hi everyone, I'm looking at finally upgrading to an SSD but which one? I know M.2 and PCIe offer faster speeds but is there a real world advantage over just standard SATA in audio production? 

Thanks Jim, I really appreciate your advice.

I just got a new Dell Inspiron 15 (5577 "gaming") laptop.  It came with a 250 GB SSD and as it turns out it is an M2 type (Sandisk X400 M2).  Among other things I plan on using the laptop for "on site" recordings (I have two coming up one this month and one in September).  I installed basic Sonar Platinum on the SSD - all I need as I'll transfer the projects to my desktop DAW for processing and have an external 2TB USB 3.0 hard drive for storing projects and easy transfer to the desktop.
 
I considered adding another drive to the new Laptop, as it has space for a hard drive or "full size" SSD, but the cabling is not there since it came configured with the M2 SSD.  I could upgrade the M2 to a larger size but the external drive should suffice for any recording I'll do with it.

soens
SSDs and M2s are super quiet and fast over SATA drives. Today's laptops are probably the most noise cancelled systems you can use as towers still need hefty fans for big CPUs. I use M2s for boot drive, sample libraries and main file storage. SATA for DAW projects.

Disagree with laptops being lowest noise.
 
A laptop is a super confined space.
"Mobile" CPUs and GPUs exist because performance-throttling is necessary to keep the units from overheating.
Due to the proprietary structure and confined space, you're essentially "stuck" with stock cooling options.
Most laptops (especially off-the-shelf) don't expose parameters necessary to control fan performance.
 
With a Tower, you've got a faster CPU... but you have the option of using a *large* heat-sink to dissipate that heat... along with large low-RPM fans.  Most motherboards allow detailed control over fan performance.
A tower based machine can be built to operate extremely quiet... with zero compromise in performance.
 
Laptops have their place...
For a high-performance "workstation", I much prefer a tower.
A tower can be built to *exactly* what you want/need.
ie: My main studio DAW has 10 SSDs (two M.2 Ultra), 6850k CPU, GTX-1060 video... and it's quiet enough to have a condenser mic recording in close proximity.
 

Jim, when you talk about M2 (PCIe x4) SSD that's what's also called NVME isn't it. M2 SSDs connect just like other drives to the SATA bus not direct to the PCIe buss so don't benefit from any speed increase beyond ordinary SSD on SATA?

Thanks mate. I just wanted the info to appear here from a credible source (being yourself) because I've had discussions with quite a few folks who think that an M.2 SSD is faster than a SATA SSD. Having bought one are then surprised to find no real performance improvement. I know the facts of it but lack the certainty of some of the things I think I know.

Jim Roseberry

soens
SSDs and M2s are super quiet and fast over SATA drives. Today's laptops are probably the most noise cancelled systems you can use as towers still need hefty fans for big CPUs. I use M2s for boot drive, sample libraries and main file storage. SATA for DAW projects.

Disagree with laptops being lowest noise.

Far be-it for me to disagree with your disagreement Jim, but... I did say "probably". There is far more control over tower builds than laptop choices. But my i7 laptop is, for the most part, completely noise free. Running 2 M2 SSDs and only occasionally do my failing ears hear the fans. They're whisper quiet. If left on and working the CPU they'll kick in louder but only for a few seconds. And it has more than enough power to run Sonar for my needs. For the price I don't think it could be beat. (It was on sale tho)

fireberd
I bought a Samsung 500GB M.2 2280 SSD for it.  Opened it and replaced the original 250GB SSD.  I had a Macrium Reflect full disc backup and restoring to the new one went with out a hitch. 

Same here. For some reason the 250 filled up way too fast for my liking. With the 500 I'm only using 110GB. Not sure what happened there. The migration to the 500GB was a total fiasco costing me over $300 to fix so now I'd think 2x before doing it again. The original 250 stores all my samples and instrument libraries.