Michael Hession/NYT WirecutterBest for…The Nintendo Switch 2 uses faster, more expensive microSD Express cards. This PNY card is one of the fastest we’ve tested, and it has a good chance of being in stock at multiple retailers.The Nintendo Switch 2 is the only device at this time that requires the use of faster microSD Express cards. Other handhelds and devices, such as the first Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck, and digital cameras in drones, primarily use the slower, cheaper microSD cards described above. Although microSD Express cards can be used in the first Nintendo Switch, in that console they run at the slower microSD speeds, which defeats the purpose of using them. We’ve tested the first six microSD Express cards available at the Switch 2’s launch, and of those we recommend the 256 GB PNY microSD Express Memory Card. It’s speedy, priced competitively, and available to buy from multiple retail outlets, and it comes from a trusted brand.It’s extremely fast. The PNY microSD Express Memory Card was fastest across the board on our speed tests, particularly the tests that predict how fast a card will read and write game files to storage. It read and wrote random files at rates between 39 MB/s and 259 MB/s on the CrystalDiskMark benchmark, operating more quickly than most of the other microSD Express cards we tested; this PNY card was also orders of magnitude faster than older microSD cards, which barely managed 3 MB/s to 15 MB/s on the same tests. We’ll be testing this card further on a Switch 2 on a regular basis , but online videos show that games load faster on a Nintendo Switch 2 than on the original Switch handheld whether with its internal storage or a microSD Express card.It offers a good balance between price and storage space. Nintendo Switch 2 games such as Mario Kart World and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild take up about 10 GB to 20 GB each. A few games, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman World of Assassination, are exponentially larger, at 60 GB. The 256 GB PNY microSD Express Memory Card expands the Nintendo Switch 2’s 256 GB internal storage to give you a lot of breathing room without draining your bank account. There are cheaper options, such as the Onn microSD Express Card, but it performed significantly worse in our testing.It comes with a limited lifetime warranty. The PNY microSD Express Memory Card has a warranty that matches those of other cards, including the SanDisk microSD Express and Lexar Play Pro, and it far outlasts the shorter warranties on the Samsung/Nintendo-branded card (three years) and Walmart’s Onn card (one year). Like most flash storage warranties, PNY’s policy covers “defects in materials and workmanship” on the card’s physical shell and internal chips, but not your data, so subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online’s Save Data Cloud backup is a prudent move.Flaws but not dealbreakersmicroSD Express cards are much more expensive than microSD and SDXC cards. If you’re used to relatively inexpensive microSD cards, the price of microSD Express cards will be a shock. For example, the 256 GB PNY microSD Express card is at least 200% more expensive than a microSD card of the same capacity. Prices should inevitably go down, but right now you’re paying for the new technology.It’s backward compatible with microSD, but you can’t swap cards between the original Switch and the Switch 2. microSD Express cards have compatibility issues that make swapping the card between the older Switch and the Switch 2 a bad idea — in particular, a microSD Express card that you initially use in an original Nintendo Switch needs reformatting before you can use it in a Nintendo Switch 2. It’s best to keep your microSD Express cards in the Switch 2 exclusively.
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