Trying to determine your laptop's PCIe speed.
Trying to determine your laptop's PCIe speed.
Check your laptop's specifications to see if the system board supports 3rd or 4th generation PCIe. This will help you choose the best SSD upgrade for your Dell Inspiron 7506 2n1.
11th generation devices are typically Gen 4, meaning the M.2 port is likely running at that speed. However, the actual impact in everyday use is minimal—only a few scenarios show a clear difference, so the most practical choice would usually be the cheaper option.
Your system features the i7 1165G7 processor. It supports PCIe 4.0, but Dell must configure the slot accordingly. Intel Core i71165G7 includes a 12M cache running up to 4.70 GHz, with specifications indicating it was designed for PCIe 3.0. It seems the choice of PCIe 3.0 was likely made to manage power usage, as PCIe 4.0 tends to consume more energy. For the Toshiba BG3 Series 256GB TLC PCI Express 3.0 x2 NVMe M.2 SSD, the included drive appears to be PCIe 3.0 with two x2 connections. Verify the Performance tab in Task Manager to confirm the drive type; if it shows 4.0, that confirms support. If not, it probably isn't compatible with PCIe 4.0 directly through the slot.