First NGFF SSDs Show Up in Lenovo ThinkPad E431 Notebook

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The first commercially available NGFF SSD has been spotted inside a Lenovo laptop.

It appears that the upcoming NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) SSDs have appeared as an option in one of Lenovo's laptops -- the ThinkPad Edge R431. While buyers can only choose from one size SSD, it's still nice to see new form factors arrive.

Users can choose from either a 24 GB NGFF SSD or No NGFF SSD. The added cost for the 24 GB NGFF SSD is $50. The intent is clearly for the unit to be used as a caching SSD.

NGFF SSDs are SSDs that might appear similar to mSATA SSDs, but they are actually even a tad smaller, measuring just 42 x 22 mm. In contrast, mSATA SSDs measure 51 mm x 30 mm. They are also 1 mm thinner for double sided units, and 2.1 mm thinner for single sided units, at just 2.75 mm thick.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Someone Somewhere
    Ouch at $2 a GB - but that's what you get for paying retail.

    To be honest, I doubt we needed this. mSATA/mPCIe is already pretty damn small. And it's not going to stop apple et al going DIY.
    Reply
  • __-_-_-__
    we need this because of speed. only that.
    Reply
  • tenshin111
    We don't really need this because:

    - we already have mSATA/mPCIe
    - and the speed is there as well, the new SSD drive format doesn't give you more speed, just a tad smaller form factor
    Reply
  • wemakeourfuture
    What do you mean "we really don't need this?"
    When manufacturers must make thinner laptops its critical to get as many components as small as possible, so this is just one of many components that must shrink
    Reply
  • drwho1
    looking at the picture, I'm more interested on the connector.
    its clearly different than a mSATA connector.
    Reply
  • damianrobertjones
    "When manufacturers must make thinner laptops its critical to get as many components as small as possible, so this is just one of many components that must shrink"
    Fair enough... They didn't HAVE to use a new connector then
    Reply
  • nhat11
    Instead of making it smaller..... keep it the same size and increase the space and decrease price for it.
    Reply
  • enewmen
    I hope these (higher capacity ones) are available at Newegg for example. Then I can stick one in a motherboard that supports M.2 to remove cable connections and get much higher 1.4GB/s speeds. I think the Asus Maximus supports this, but only at SATA3 speeds.
    Reply
  • Avus
    NGFF is a stupid (form factor) name... think what is the next gen of this should called... NGFF+1??
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    EDIT: Somehow this became my original post. New one is below:

    we need this because of speed. only that.

    mPCIe has at least one lane (I can't find a definitive source), and that's plenty for most things. If you need anything faster, give it PCIe 3.0, for a GB/s each way.

    Besides, who's going to put a GPU or similar on one of these? It won't fit and you can't deal with the heat.

    When manufacturers must make thinner laptops its critical to get as many components as small as possible, so this is just one of many components that must shrink

    So use a half-length one.
    Reply