How it works
NVMe is a storage communication protocol designed for non-volatile memory. In a typical personal computer, an NVMe SSD communicates through PCIe rather than using the SATA storage path. NVMe and M.2 are different concepts: the former concerns communication, the latter physical arrangement. An M.2-shaped drive is not necessarily NVMe, and NVMe devices can exist in other supported form factors.
Performance depends on the drive controller, flash, available PCIe connection, cooling and workload. A high sequential-transfer figure does not guarantee the same improvement when opening small files or working through another slow resource. Sustained writes can also behave differently from a short burst. A compatible older PCIe connection can limit a newer drive's maximum throughput without making ordinary use defective.
Practical checks
Check the computer's exact storage support and whether it can boot from the proposed device. Confirm slot, mounting length, resource-sharing rules and cooling space. Back up before migration and distinguish copying files from correctly transferring a bootable system. Afterwards, verify recognised capacity, health and startup. Select from relevant workload needs and compatibility instead of assuming every NVMe label guarantees identical speed or that an advertised peak is sustained in all tasks.