I have a new laptop (Acer AN515-58) with an empty 2.5 bay and m.2 slot. I'm wary of doing any expansion due to warranty voiding. The two options I'm considering are (with not losing speed being the other concern):
1. I have a 2tb Crucial MX500 that I could put in the 2.5 slot. The laptop is PCIe Gen 4. I don't know what that means for the 2.5 bay
2. Other option is to get an external like this , which is a faster drive, but I don't understand whether it being external means I lose performance compared to it being internal, and even worse whether that would make it slower than the Crucial drive, where it installed internally. The Acer laptop has these ports available - USB 3.2 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 4 Type-C
Many thanks for your help
1. I have a 2tb Crucial MX500 that I could put in the 2.5 slot. The laptop is PCIe Gen 4. I don't know what that means for the 2.5 bay
2. Other option is to get an external like this , which is a faster drive, but I don't understand whether it being external means I lose performance compared to it being internal, and even worse whether that would make it slower than the Crucial drive, where it installed internally. The Acer laptop has these ports available - USB 3.2 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 4 Type-C
Many thanks for your help