A hardware assembly of a non-volatile solid state drive and a processor is made more compact by eliminating elements previously associated with such assemblies. For embodiments implementing a SATA cable to electrically connect the solid state drive and processor, the SATA cable directly connects the two elements without implementing intervening bulky SATA connectors. For embodiments implementing a printed circuit board for mounting the solid state drive and processor, the SATA cable itself may be eliminated by replacing it with a hardwired signal path on the printed circuit board. These compact hardware assemblies are manufactured by hardwiring the signal path to the solid state drive at a SATA interface and hardwiring the same signal path to the processor also such that the hardwired signal path electrically connects the solid state drive to the processor.