SATA M.2 Vs SATA (Cable)?

[Gimpymoo]

If all things being equal in terms of drive performance and price, what is your choice?

M.2
Faster? (Maybe not real world faster but benchmark faster at least)
Tidier
Thermal issues?
Problem to replace if faulty? (depending on mobo layout)
Still not as "stable" as it should be?

SATA (Cable)
Needs data and power cable
Cables need routing
Limited thermal issues
Easy to replace

Am I missing anything?

 

[Armageus]

SATA for me despite having just got new HP Mini work PCs with M2's that are blisteringly fast.

SATA is just simpler - it works everywhere you can think of, without worrying about form factor, AHCI vs NVMe, whether you've got the correct amount of PCI-E lanes available etc.

 

[Journey]

You've asked SATA M.2 vs. SATA Cable, they are identical other than the form factor.

So, a bit pointless but to answer your questions.

Faster? - Exactly the same speed at the same capacities, as the SATA bus was being saturated long before now.
Thermal issues? - SATA M.2 drives don't get at all hot, maybe 10c above ambient.
Problem to Replace? - They are held in by a single screw, and usually only ever obstructed by a graphics card, so I am going to say no. Oh, in the instance of some MITX board might be on the bottom of the board.
Not stable? - Same device, with a different shaped PCB to the 2.5" variant using a gold finger connector rather than a cable, if anything they are more stable.

You are missing that M.2 is a form factor not a protocol, if you were asking about M.2 drives using the NVMe protocol across the PCI-e bus then the discussion would be completely different.

Hope that helps anyhow.