Microsoft Surface is a great piece of hardware that has a beautiful 2-in-1 form factor, great performance, and the most cutting-edge technologies. When it comes to storage options you will be limited to choose from some preset configurations that sometimes don’t fit your needs. Fortunately, most Microsoft Surface models except the Surface Laptop are all come with an SD or MicroSDXC card slot that you can use to expand your device’s storage.
MicroSD card capacity for a Surface Pro 3 I have a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 256 GB, 8 GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro v1709, OS build 16299.192). I am currently using a 64 GB microSD card and am considering upgrading to a larger capacity since prices have come down. I am able to purchase 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB microSD cards.
LENTION USB C Hub with 3 USB 3.0 and SD/Micro SD Card Reader Compatible 2020-2016 MacBook Pro 13/15/16, New Mac Air/iPad Pro/Surface, ChromeBook, More, Multi-Port Type C Adapter (CB-C15, Space Gray) 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,889. Surface pro 3 micro sd card slot surface pro 3 wont find sd card surface pro non legge sd Members online. No members online now. Total: 84 (members: 0, guests: 84). Surface Pro 3 supports standard Wi-Fi protocols (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth®, and it has the ports you expect in a full-feature laptop. Full-size USB 3.0 port. Connect USB accessories—like a mouse, a printer, a 4G USB dongle, or an Ethernet adapter. MicroSD card slot. Use the microSD card slot for extra storage or transferring files. Another limitation with the case on is the ability to access the MicroSD card. Again not a big deal for me as I put the card in and have not taking it out since. But, for some this might be an issue if you plan on taking the microSD card in and out. Overall, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 case is a great case.
There are several things to consider when you’re choosing a MicroSD card for your device. MicroSD card’s capacity, speed, type, and price are the most important things you need to know about when it comes down to the final decision.
According to the SD Association, here we have an overview of memory’s sequential write speed information for different speed classes of MicroSD cards.
Minimum Write Speed | Speed Class | UHS Speed | Video Speed | Max Video Recording Quality |
---|---|---|---|---|
2MB/sec | Class 2 | SD Video | ||
4MB/sec | Class 4 | SD Video | ||
6MB/sec | Class 6 | V6 | SD Video | |
10MB/sec | Class 10 | U1 | V10 | Full HD Video |
30MB/sec | U3 | V30 | 4K low bitrate | |
60MB/sec | V60 | 4K Video | ||
90MB/sec | V90 | 8K Video |
*UHS = Ultra High-Speed
There is also another standard that is being used for application performance classification. This standard will show you the random read and write performance as input/outputs per second (IOPS).
Application Performance Class | Min. Random Read | Min. Random Write | Min. Sustained Seq. Write |
---|---|---|---|
Class 1 (A1) | 1500 IOPS | 500 IOPS | 10 MBytes/s |
Class 2 (A2) | 4000 IOPS | 2000 IOPS | 10 MBytes/s |
You might want to know as well about what is the maximum MicroSD card capacity that your Surface can support. Here is the SD card capacity standard.
SD Slot Standard | Compatible SD Cards | Memory Capacity |
---|---|---|
SD | SD | Up to 2 GB |
SDHC (High Capacity) | SDHC, SD | 2GB to 32GB |
SDXC (Extended Capacity) | SDXC, SDHC, SD | 32GB to 2TB |
Since all Microsoft Surface devices are using MicroSDXC host controllers, so your Surface technically can support a MicroSD cards with a capacity up to 2TB. Learn more about Microsoft Surface specifications by downloading the Microsoft Surface RT User Guide.
Now you have a better understanding of the MicroSD Card’s speed and capacity standard. Here, we have round up the best MicroSD cards that are compatible and work well on Microsoft Surface.
To learn more about individual Micro SD card, here we have listed the specifications and our thought on each item here:
Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface in 2021 | ||
---|---|---|
1. SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC UHS-I A1 Card - 256GB $30.70 | ||
2. SanDisk Extreme Micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 Card - 256 GB $41.49 | ||
3. Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 Micro SDXC Card - 128GB $15.99 | ||
4. Lexar Professional 1800x Micro SDXC UHS-II Card - 128GB $71.99 | ||
5. BASEQI Aluminum MicroSD Adapter for Surface Book 1-3 $24.99 |
Not all Micro SD Card made for the same purpose, in this case, the reason you want to expand the storage on your Surface devices might not just to store only documents, photos, or videos. You probably want to store your applications and games that will require a specific SD card with better random read and write performance as input/outputs per second (IOPS). That's why you might want to pick up this A1 app performance card from SanDisk. It promised to deliver up to 1500 IOPS random read speed and 500 IOPS.
This Micro SDXC card features an Ultra High-Speed (UHS-I) and a class 10 speed rating. With the latest version, it now can support faster data transfer speed up to 120MB/s which is great for playing large videos. This Sandisk MicroSDXC also has great protection with waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, X-ray proof, and magnet proof.
Need a high-performance Micro SDXC card with better apps and games optimization for your Surface devices, this SanDisk Extreme® PRO microSDXC™ UHS-I Card is what you need. With SanDisk engineering and UHS-I enabled Surface devices, it supports data read speed up to 160 MB/s which is faster than the standard UHS-I speed of 104 MB/s. On top of that, it also supports UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and video class 30 (V30) that can maintain a stable 30MB/s for real-time 4K video recording.
You can expect faster apps and games load performance with this card rated with A2 app performance that supports random read and write speeds up to 4000 IOPS and 2000 IOPS respectively. It also has great protection with waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, X-ray proof, and magnet proof to secure your data from accidentally damaged.
Note A2 performance only available on 64GB - 1TB cards. For 32GB cards support only A1 app performance with 1500 IOPS and 500 IOPS read and write speed.
The Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 card is one of the best Micro SDXC cards available that offer great and reliable performance at a very affordable price. It is also able to record the 4K UHD video recording and handle most apps and games without any problems. It does come with a MicroSD card adapter so you can use it on any computer with a full-size SD card slot.
It can transfer up to 100MB/s for the read speed. While the write speed varies by the size of the card, in this case, the 128GB card supports up to 60 MB/s write speed. If you want a faster write speed, the 512GB card supports up to 90 MB/s write speed.
If you need the fastest expansion storage on your Microsoft surface devices especially for the Microsoft Surface Book series that comes with UHS-II capable SD card reader, you can count on this Lexar Professional 1000x. It uses the latest UHS-II/U3 technology that can deliver the fastest transfer speed up to 270MB/s read speed and 150 MB/s write speed.
It will let you work on big documents or projects file that needs the high speed of both input and output. It’s verified to work great with GoPro cameras for capturing 4K UHD videos.
If you are looking to expand the storage of your Surface Book, the only thing you can do is using the SD card slot. Since it is a full-sized SD card slot, you will need a full-sized SD card or SD card adapter. However the depth of the slot is about half-length of the card, so it’s not a good idea to use the full-sized SD card as a permanent solution to expand the storage.
Fortunately, there is a MicroSD Adapter made by BASEQI that is firm and nicely fit the Microsoft Surface Book card slot without sticking out. With that said, you can now use any microSD card to expand the storage on your Surface Book. It has the same color and aluminum designed just like the Surface Book’s chassis.
Those are the best MicroSD cards in terms of capacity, speed, and price. If you want the most affordable large MicroSD card, we recommend the Sandisk Ultra 200GB Micro SDXC UHS-I card or Samsung 128GB EVO UHS-3 MicroSD card. If speed matter to you the most the Lexar Professional microSDXC is what you should consider. Finally, if you have Microsoft Surface Book you will need an additional special MicroSD adapter made specifically for Surface Book.
Does Surface Laptop 3 have an SD card slot?
No, it doesn’t. Unfortunately, SD card slot isn’t available on both 13.5-inch and 15-inch Surface Laptop 3.
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With the right set of accessories, you can boost your Surface's productivity to the next level. Here we have some of the best accessories you should get for your Surface devices.
Those are the top must-have accessories for Microsoft Surface devices so far. With Surface Pen, Surface Dock, Surface Precision Mouse, and microSD card will significantly increase your Surface performance, storage, and productivity.
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