… and why do I care?

It’s all about purchasing a card that is fast enough for your video or still camera, and hopefully not buying more than you need, since everything seems to get cheaper on a daily basis. I pulled Keith Mullin aka ‘Da Professor’ aside for a moment and asked him to explain the differences to me in layman’s terms.

The Two Card Types Are Physically Different

UHS-II cards have a second row of pins as compared to UHS-I, so they can be quite a bit faster, everything else being equal, BUT your camera needs to have slot(s) that also have the second row of pins AND their firmware needs to be able to take advantage of UHS-III to get the benefits.

Video Cameras

Currently none of the video cameras that we sell can take advantage of UHS-II cards. The Panasonic EVA-1 does have UHS-II slots, but the second row of pins won’t be active until their much anticipated firmware update comes out this summer.

Since recent Pentax models support UHS-I transfer speeds, it's a safe bet to invest in the fastest UHS-I cards, such as the 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 MB/s read, 90 MB/s write SDXC card. At under $35 in the US, this capacity is a great value. Supported Cards: SD / SDHC / SDXC / MicroSD / MicroSDHC / MicroSDXC/ TF Card. 1x USB 3.0 Card Reader. Support Windows and Mac. Plug and Play, No Software Required. Designed for use with high-performance SD UHS-II memory cards, the SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II Card Reader/Writer offers the speeds that professional photographers and videographers need to quickly download high-resolution photos and HD videos. A USB 3.0 interface supports transfer speeds of up to 500 MB/s to make your post-production workflow more efficient - up to 10 times faster. Please insert SDXC and support SDHC SD card slot to use. Support high speed SD bus interface specifications (.) in the new UHS-I. Only with the support of UHS-I devices used in UHS-I mode. (see below) The temperature of -25 to 85 DEG C, relative humidity 30 80%RH (no condensation) Package Contents: SanDisk Extreme PRO SD with Retail Package.1.

Still Cameras

The Sony A9, A7RIII, and new A7III all have two SD card slots in them: one is UHS-I and the other is UHS-II.

Using a UHS-II card in the cameras offers no advantage for video currently, but there are rumors that 4k60p may be turned on via a firmware update for some or all of these cameras at some point in the future, and that will most likely require a UHS-II card.

For still photography, using a UHS-II card will allow burst mode shooting to continue for a longer period of time before the camera’s internal buffer fills up. It doesn’t make the burst mode specs faster for any of the cameras, but lets you shoot in burst mode longer.

Well, there you have it. Thanks, Keith for the info!

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 option 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.

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.

*UHS = Ultra High-Speed

2App Performance Class

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).

3Capacity Standard

You might want to know as well about what is the maximum MicroSD card’s capacity that your Surface can support. Here is the SD card capacity standard.

Since all Microsoft Surface devices are using MicroSDXC host controllers, so your Surface technically can support MicroSD card with 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 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.

Our Picks: Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface

To learn more about individual Micro SD card, here we have listed the specifications and our thought on each item here:

1 Sandisk Ultra Micro SDXC UHS-I Card

Sdxc Slot With Uhs-i Support Software

• Available from 8GB to 400GB.
• Class 10 / UHS-I, speed up to 100 MB/s.
• Load apps faster with A1 app performance class
• Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
• Included SD adapter.
• 10-year limited warranty

If you want fairly big storage for your Surface, you can get this 200GB MicroSDXC card at an affordable price while it is on sale. The Sandisk MicroSDXC UHS-I card features a class 10 speed rating.

It can support faster data transfer speed up to 100MB/s which is great for playing large videos. As the rated as A1 App Performance, it is able to run most apps and games without any slow down. This Sandisk MicroSDXC also has great protection with waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, X-ray proof and magnet proof.

2 Samsung EVO UHS-3 Class 10 MicroSD Card

• Available from 32GB to 256GB.
• Class 10 / UHS 3, 100MB/s read and 90MB/s write speed.
• 4-proof protection from water, extreme temperatures, and other harsh conditions.
• Included SD adapter.
• 10-year limited warranty

Sdxc Slot With Uhs-i Support Drivers

The next one is from Samsung, The EVO UHS-3 card also rated as a class 10 and UHS-3 transfer speed. It can transfer up to 100MB/s and 90MB/s read and write speeds respectively. 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 in any computers with a full-size SD card slot.

3 Lexar Professional 1000x microSDXC UHS-II/U3

• Using high-speed UHS-II (U3) technology.
• Transfer speed up to 150MB/s.
• 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.

If you need the fastest expansion storage on your Microsoft surface devices, you can count on this Lexar Professional 1000x. It using the latest UHS-II/U3 technology that can deliver the fastest transfer speed up to 150MB/s.

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.

4 BASEQI Aluminum MicroSD Adapter for Surface Book

• Designed for Surface Book.
• Made from aluminum material.
• Easy to insert/remove.
• Supports UHS-I.
• Model 350A for 13.5″ Surface Book and Surface Book 2.
• Model 351A for 15″ Surface Book 2

If you are looking to expand the storage of your Surface Book and Surface Book 2, 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.

Micro Sdxc Slot With Uhs-i Support

Conclusion

Sdxc Slot With Uhs-i Support -

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 the speed matter you the most the Lexar Professional microSDXC are what you should consider. Finally, if you have Microsoft Surface Book you will need additional special MicroSD adapter made specifically for Surface Book.