StarTech.com 1-Port 2.5GbE M.2 2280 Network Card, Multi-Gigabit Speeds (2.5G/1G/100M/10M), NBASE-T (802.3bz) NIC, M.2 B+M Key, PCIe Ethernet Interface, For SFF/Desktop PCs - TAA

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

For £59.39 ex-VAT, this is a decent “just get connected” upgrade if you’ve got a spare M.2 slot and you want 2.5GbE without paying for a full new PCIe NIC. StarTech’s 2.5GbE on an M.2 2280 is the kind of card that suits small office desktops, compact workstations, and SFF machines where there’s no room (or no desire) for a bigger PCIe network card. Day-to-day, you’ll feel the difference mostly when moving lots of data (backup servers, file shares, NAS-to-PC traffic) or when you’re on a multi-gig switch environment—not so much for casual browsing.

That said, I’d be a bit cautious before you buy: the biggest “gotcha” is whether your system’s M.2 slot is actually wired to support networking (not just NVMe storage). Also, M.2 network cards can be more sensitive to BIOS/UEFI quirks and driver behaviour than standard PCIe NICs. If your machine already has a solid PCIe slot and you’re not constrained by space, a conventional PCIe 2.5GbE card is often the safer, simpler route. If you’re constrained to M.2 or you’re deliberately trying to keep things tidy in a small box, then it’s good value—otherwise, I’d only buy it with confidence after confirming the M.2 slot supports this use case.