HP Envy 17 U-163 - M.2 possible?

[David43243222]

I just bought an Envy and assumed it would have a slot for an m.2 SSD but I don't see one on the board.  None of the pics/vids I've seen seem to match my board.  I believe CPUZ calls it 81DR. 

There are most def no empty slots on this board.

there is nothing under the battery.  There is a space in the bottom left...I don't see any place to connect to the board.

Any thoughts? 

If this doesn't work then I will get rid of the optical drive and use that to house an SSD, if possible...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If you look at chapter 3 of the service manual, it appears that HP uses different motherboards for notebooks that came from the factory with M.2 SATA SSD's.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05282360

I would recommend that you replace the 2.5" mechanical hard drive with a 2.5" SSD.

When you put a SSD in an optical drive adapter, it is very likely the drive controller may not be SATA 3, since optical drives run at the SATA I speed.

If I wanted to do what you propose, I would be installing the mechanical hard drive in an optical drive caddy and using it for storage.