Apologies, most of the dull ones are ground pins and the shiny ones are signal pins. The unique layout was probably designed for signal integrity.

Check out the pinout diagram for LGA1700, those are ground pins(VSS).

WD is sabotaging their own reputation, the Red drive SMR bait and switch already says all.

Sucks to see but at least it’s a start. Intel has been dominating the laptop since forever and the mindshare is still very strong.