They leave the pcie port and the m2 port free so you can add what you need to the available channels. Other boards occupy those channels and leave you no choice. It's even good for later modifications.
Yeah that's probably the outcome due to low cost and small space design.
And regarding available bandwidth on the PCIe port it also makes sense in my case.
Do i get it right that it shouldnt matter if i use the M2 or the PCIe slot for SATA extension?
They both are 16GB/s right?
If you are talking about the Asus motherboard, it does matter. The PCIe slot has a bandwidth of 985MB/s, it is a gen3 x1 slot. The M2 slot has a bandwidth of 1970MB/s, it is a gen3 x2 slot. So it depends on what you connect to each slot and your needs, you can think about what interests you most.
Where did you find that?
In the motherboard specifications you can see that the M.2 slot supports PCIe 3.0 x2 mode. You can also see that the PCIe slot is gen 3.0 x1.
The bandwidths corresponding to those specifications are what I said before, you can see them here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
In the motherboard specifications you can see that the M.2 slot supports PCIe 3.0 x2 mode. You can also see that the PCIe slot is gen 3.0 x1.
The bandwidths corresponding to those specifications are what I said before, you can see them here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
Yes as i alreday sad above 
I was confused because the Asus Website documents a wrong speed for the PCIe 3.0 x1 slot.
Ok i think an M2 to SATA solution is what i need then. I am not using the M2 port anyways.
I hope i will be able to boot from my SSD then being connected to this adapter.
I also wonder a bit how much extra Wattage i can assume for this thing. I am currently running 1x SSD, 3x HDD with an ASrock N3150-ITX with a PicoPSU (i think it is a 90Watt model). It's probably close to the edge but works fine. Would be cool if i can just reuse the PSU for the Asus solution.
In the thread that I linked in post 12 you have information about all this that may be useful for you.
I assume the most interesting part is this then:
Of all this, what surprised me most was the 4W jump in consumption when connecting the PCIe to SATA adapter card.
Yes, this really surprised me. I couldn't say if the reason is that this card is old or the same thing really happens with any current card. In any case, I suppose it wouldn't make much difference if the controller is integrated into the motherboard.
No idea. If you check the specifications of the Intel CPU, it specifies a maximum of 16GB of Ram. If you look at the specifications of the Asus motherboard it says the same, maximum of 16GB of Ram. However, I have read on several sites that you can install a 32GB module and it is recognized without problems.
I didn't want to complicate things, I installed 16GB which is well above what I need. 8GB would be enough in my case, even 4GB too, I guess.
There was no firmware to update on the motherboard, when I bought it it came with the latest version of Bios available.
just buy cheapest low volume used ddr4 ram ... upgrade bios and inastall 32GB
No idea. If you check the specifications of the Intel CPU, it specifies a maximum of 16GB of Ram. If you look at the specifications of the Asus motherboard it says the same, maximum of 16GB of Ram. However, I have read on several sites that you can install a 32GB module and it is recognized without problems.
I didn't want to complicate things, I installed 16GB which is well above what I need. 8GB would be enough in my case, even 4GB too, I guess.
There was no firmware to update on the motherboard, when I bought it it came with the latest version of Bios available.
Thanks. I am also fine with 16GB in my current setup. Guess i might as well go with that.
Ok I have received the Asus Prime N100 and the M2 to SATA adapter.
I screwed the board in and the result i can report is: not much happening
The MB does not find any drives connected to the M2 adapter and it says "No NVME devices found".
Also PC boots directly into the BIOS. Not sure why yet. Maybe the OMV OS is on my SSD and GRUB or Boot block is on any of the other drives i cannot connect.
No fun up to here 
not much happening
It will show in your system as a PCI device (use lspci), plugging that adapter in is theoretically the same as plugging in a card into a full size PCIe header. Also, the adapter's controller is supposed to support hot plugging but, it doesn't seem that's enabled with that adapter so you'll need the drives powered at startup or OMV will bark about missing drives.
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