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 all come with an SD or MicroSDXC card slot that you can use to expand your device’s storage.
Table of contents
- Featured Recommendations
- MicroSD card buying guide
- Our Picks: Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface
Featured Recommendations
MicroSD card buying guide
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.
1Speed Class
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
2App Performance Class
There is also another standard that is being used for application performance classification. This standard will show 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 |
3Capacity Standard
You might also want to know about 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 use MicroSDXC host controllers, your Surface technically can support MicroSD cards with a capacity of 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 rounded up the best MicroSD cards that are compatible and work well on Microsoft Surface.
Our Picks: Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface
To learn more about individual Micro SD cards, here we have listed the specifications and our thought on each item:
| Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface in 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
1. SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC UHS-I A1 Card - 256GB By SanDisk
$26.99 $47.99 44% OFF |
|
 |
2. SanDisk Extreme Micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 Card - 256 GB By SanDisk
$34.97 |
|
 |
3. Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 Micro SDXC Card - 128GB By SAMSUNG
$54.20 |
|
 |
4. Lexar Professional 1800x Micro SDXC UHS-II Card - 128GB By Lexar
Not Available |
|
 |
5. BASEQI Aluminum MicroSD Adapter for Surface Book 1-3 By BaseQi
$24.99 |
|
SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC UHS-I A1 Card - 256GB
A perfect Micro SDXC card with an A1 rating for Microsoft Surface
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.
- Available Storages 32GB 64GB 128GB 200GB 256GB 400GB 512GB 1TB
- Speed Metrics Class 10 UHS-I Full-HD U1 A1
- Product Features
- Data transfer up to 120 MB/s.
- Load apps faster with A1 app performance class up to 1500 read IOPS and 500 write IOPS.
- Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
- Included SD adapter.
- 10-year manufacturer warranty.
SanDisk Extreme Micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 Card - 256 GB
Fast Apps & Games Load Time with 160 MB/s Max Read Speed
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.
- Available Storages 32GB 64GB 128GB 256GB 400GB 512GB 1TB
- Speed Metrics Class 10 UHS-I U3 V30 4K A2
- Product Features
- Sequential Read Speed: 160 MB/s.
- Sequential Write Speed: 90 MB/s.
- Load apps faster with A2 app performance class up to 4,000 read IOPS and 2,000 write IOPS.
- Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
- Included SD adapter.
- Manufacturer lifetime warranty.
- Available Apps SanDisk memory zone
Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 Micro SDXC Card - 128GB
Reliable Speed with U3 - 4K UHD Capability
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.
- Available Storages 32GB 64Gb 128GB 256GB 512GB
- Speed Metrics Class 10 UHS-I 4K U3
- Product Features
- Read speed: 100 MB/s
- Write speed: 60 MB/s
- Reliable storage for storing and playback 4K UHD videos.
- Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
- Included SD adapter.
- 10-year limited warranty
Lexar Professional 1800x Micro SDXC UHS-II Card - 128GB
SuperSpeed UHS-II/U3 with 270 MB/s Card
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.
- Available Storages 64GB 128GB
- Speed Metrics Class 10 UHS-II U3 V90 3D 4K
- Product Features
- Read speed: 270 MB/s
- Write speed: 150 MB/s
- Using high-speed UHS-II (U3) technology.
- Verified to be compatible with GoPro cameras.
- Can read can capture 4K UHD and 3D video.
- Included a MicroSD UHS-II reader for the best possible transfer speed.
- Lifetime limited warranty.
BASEQI Aluminum MicroSD Adapter for Surface Book 1-3
Turn a MicroSD Card into a Permanent Expandable Storage for Surface Book
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.
Source: Amazon
- Product Features
- Designed for Surface Book 1-3.
- Made from aluminum material.
- Easy to insert/remove.
- Supports UHS-I.
- Supported Model
- Adapter Model 350A Surface Book (1st Gen) Surface Book 2 13.5” Surface Book 3 13.5”
- Adapter Model 351A Surface Book 2 15” Surface Book 3 15”
- Adapter Model 350A
Conclusion
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.
