[SOLVED] Difference between NVMe SSD key types?

[Warfather]

I have a HP Pavilion - 14-ce0505na which I bougth for university and light gaming. For that purpose its doing fine but I want to upgrade both the RAM and SSD to suit my needs a bit more. I opened it up today to have a look and see whats in it and found a single 8GB DDR4 2400 SODIMM with only one slot which I want to upgrade to 16GB so this ones pretty straight forward. I can't forsee issues here but I have linked the intended purchase below anyway.

The thing I am confused about is the included 256GB NVMe SSD. It currently has a Western Digital Blue SN500 256GB installed which from what I have read, is a B+M Key.
I don't know anything about NVMe really and this is my first upgrade of this type but the main types I am seeing are M Key types.

Are the two interchangable? The socket doesn't look like it has a break off point to only support the B+M key and looks like the layout for an M Key type which is the reason I am asking.

Here's some relevant links for anyone interested in helping:
HP's Official Specification Page for my laptop
The currently installed NVMe drive
What I am looking to upgrade to for the NVMe
The DDR4 I am looking to upgrade to

 

[PC Tailor]

Are the two interchangable? The socket doesn't look like it has a break off point to only support the B+M key and looks like the layout for an M Key type which is the reason I am asking.

Welcome to the forums my friend!

Here is a quick idea for the keys

B key = PCIe x2 / SATA
M Key = PCIe x4 / SATA
Yours is a B+M key - so this means it can operate with both.

Also just be wary of the interface you are using - see point 5 here:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...when-selecting-parts-for-a-custom-pc.3510178/

 

[Warfather]

Thank you very much for this. The socket itself definitely looked like the B Key socket.

So basically I need to find a B Key type M2 NVMe or a B+M Type only? From what you described it doesn't seem I can use the M key type because the connector isn't right.