The differences between the 'regular' 2.5" SSD and the m.2. series really aren't that different, aside from form factor and interface. The MX500 m.2. is available in three models, a 250GB, 500GB and 1TB version. For the regular 2.5" SSD there also is a 2TB version available. The MX500 uses Microns own TLC NAND, the new 64-layer vertical stacked version with a bit of DRAM cache and. Our tested MX500 1TB SSD is advertised at proper SATA3 SSD performance metrics with 560MB/s for sequential read and 510MB/s on sequential writes. Random 4K IOPS show numbers in the ~90 for both random read and write IOPS. Crucial basically offers two performance and price positioned series, MX and the slightly, lower positioned (affordable upgrade) BX series. The MX500 series what I label as absolute value storage, it is very price-competitive compared to mainstream to high-end class SATA3 performance. You guys likely know it, I've been in the computer industry a LONG time and have noticed that two developments evolve in very fast paces, graphics cards, and storage technology. If you look how far and fast we've become with NAND technology you can only acknowledge, it is just amazing. My first HDD storage unit was connected towards a Commodore 64, back in 1984 (!), that unit was SCSI based and could hold a whopping 10 MB of data, it did that (if memory serves me right) at roughly 40 KB/sec in read performance which honestly was blazingly fast at that time and cost me something in the extent and equivalent of 500 USD / EURO. And yes, here we are in an era where NVMe SSDs reaches 3 GB/sec and SSDs having storage capacities of 2 Terabyte priced at that same level as that Commodore 64 storage unit back in the days. It is these trends that drive SSD storage to the high-level momentum in evolution as we see today: endurance, performance, price, and capacity. The MX500 series covers all these metrics.