IdeaPad 710S Upgrades?

A friend just gave me a Lenovo IdeaPad 710S. It's i7 with 256 ssd. I'd like to up it to 500gb for a dual-boot with Linux Mint. I was wondering which model drive might give me the storage and perhaps speed up the machine. I've been happy with Samsung and Crucial in my past computers, but that was about 3 years ago. There's so much info out there, I hoping someone here might have more recent experience or help me narrow the focus.

 

Looking a bit deeper into the specs.... It's M.2 SATA not NVME and the WIFI is compatible with swapping in an AX210.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/i...A=512000000000,18000000000000&sort=price&i=83
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/2bYWGX,DgJtt6,4Qw7YJ,vY3H99/ $50 512GB - $130 for 1TB

 

The SSD that shipped may have been an m.2 SATA drive, but the port is PCIe x4.

See:
ideapad_710S_13_Spec.PDF (lenovo.com)

See:
Ideapad 710S | Cutting-Edge Stylish Laptop | | Lenovo Canada

 

That would be a nice bump in speed if that's the case. Need to pop the case and inspect it for verification though. The reviews I was finding were all indicating SATA not NVME.

 

Again, reviewers report the drive that shipped, I haven't seen too many that report the actual capabilities of the products they 'review'.

If Lenovo's own documentation is wrong, well, sue them, not me.

 

I'm not sure if I'm understand correctly, so please correct me. I know SATA is slower than PCI. Does this mean the port may be compatible with both types? I was under the impression it was either/or? Will sysinfo give that information, or can I only verify when I open up the machine this week?

 

It's possible that sysinfo will give you some of the info if the socket is populated. I have 2 NVME drives installed and an open bay for a 2.5 SATA. Looking at sysinfo it's not showing the capability of the SATA port that's not being used.

M.2 = the socket / newer systems allow use of both NVME / SATA M.2 drives. There are hints that it might support NVME but, I couldn't find anything to confirm that which is why I suggest opening the machine and taking some pics of the slots to verify whether or not they will support both technologies.

This will show the SATA controller that's not in use..// SCSI will show if there are any NVME controllers.


I think it's easier to take out a few screws and look at the physical than rely on windows to produce the inventory readout. While you're in there you can clean out any hairballs that may have accumulated as well.

 

Thanks for your efforts. I was thinking the same thing. I was just holding off till I verified the possibility on Dual-boot on this machine. Everything I'd found so far online said it was not because of some BIOS/UEFI situation. That it was either Windows or Linux, but not both. If that turns out to be true, then a larger capacity SSD will not be necessary.

 

You can multiboot any Drive / system. It's a matter of space on the drive. If I wanted to on a 1TB drive I could squeeze 8-10 OS images on it to boot from and as long as Grub is configured correctly with each install it wouldn't be much of an issue. 1TB NVME's are relatively cheap @ $100-130 where as just a few years ago a 1TB SSD cost me about $700.

BIOS only plays into the multiboot in a couple of situations like secure boot. Some OS options require it and others don't. Most OS choices offer UEFI or Legacy options. W11 probably won't like legacy and popup a disclaimer saying it's not supported and you have to hit ACCEPT to not get any support if it doesn't work correctly.

 

Yes, the PCIe m.2 x4 port is compatible with both m.2 SATA and PCIe drives. The drive's 'key' determines their capabilities.

See:
How to Check PCIe M.2 NVMe SSDs Compatibility with your PC or Motherboard - Appuals.com

 

Let's call it M2 SATA / NVME since PCIe is a bit muddled. NVME won't run on a SATA port anyway. The distinction is bandwidth going from 6gbps SATA to 14GB/s on NVME.(gen 4 / 5)



Left notch = Legacy SATA (B Key)
Right notch = NVME (M Key)

 

Sure, doesn't matter what we call it. It is the same thing as the link I posted too.

 

Well, it does make a difference because there are also PCIe cards in which you can attach either M2 device to. I pulled the image from the link you posted and as you can see they're marked with SATA / NVME not PCIe. Otherwise mentioning them by B-key / M-key differentiates them as well as to which technology they will be using along with the speed they're capable of.

This is important when trying to decipher the technical terms used in the OEM information as to which drive type is able to be used. With differing information posted alluding to either / or getting hands on and visually inspecting the drive / socket is key to determining which to use / order.

 

Been real busy and haven't had the time to open it up. But I did run sysinfo and got reference to NVME. (See pic) I'm having problems with the built-in camera and trying to get that sorted. Perhaps this weekend I'll get time to open up the machine. I'm also interested in the AX210 upgrade mentioned earlier, but in some research it was said the Linux had problems with it.

 

I'd say NVME is the way to go. I use Linux as well and don't have any issues with the card. Works fine in Ubuntu 21.10 w/ kernel 5.14.x

I would test with 5.15 but, I have an Atlantic aquantia card that causes issues with the kernel at that level. Waiting on the proper drivers. 5.14.rc7 right now is my holding pattern for now since having to rollback with each release has become a nuisance.