News Nintendo Switch 2's support for MicroSD Express standard is going to hurt your wallet: Here's why

[Admin]

The Nintendo Switch 2 uses a memory standard named MicroSD Express, and the pricing of the newly announced products is going to make your wallet sting.

Nintendo Switch 2's support for MicroSD Express standard is going to hurt your wallet: Here's why : Read more

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The prices I saw on Amazon aren't too overly expensive. A 256GB card $60 vs $23 for a Samsung non express. So that is almost 3x as much. People got upset and complained about the PS5 Pro and all the other stuff you needed to buy and this is looking pretty close to a PS5 Pro pricing structure.

 

[thisisaname]

The prices I saw on Amazon aren't too overly expensive. A 256GB card $60 vs $23 for a Samsung non express. So that is almost 3x as much. People got upset and complained about the PS5 Pro and all the other stuff you needed to buy and this is looking pretty close to a PS5 Pro pricing structure.

Plus by the time the you easily buy one the price of the cards will have come down some more.

 

[Notton]

$60 can get you a 1TB Gen 3 NVMe drive of the 2230 variety.

 

[AurynTheCat]

$60 can get you a 1TB Gen 3 NVMe drive of the 2230 variety.

1TB Gen 2 NVMe drives were like $200 when the PS5 was released. The recently announced 1 TB Lexar micro SD Express card will also be $200. And it will likely come down in price. Expensive storage is ALWAYS the case when a new console is released.

 

[CelicaGT]

The Switch 2 implementation will mainstream the Express standard which will drive prices down. This is a good thing.

 

[Notton]

1TB Gen 2 NVMe drives were like $200 when the PS5 was released. The recently announced 1 TB Lexar micro SD Express card will also be $200. And it will likely come down in price. Expensive storage is ALWAYS the case when a new console is released.

Back in 2020, a 1TB NVMe SSD would have cost $100.
But if you're talking about a Gen4, 7000MB/s capable drive, like the WD SN580, that would have cost $230.
Mind you, that's assuming you could even buy a PS5 due to 2020 shenanigans.
By the time 2021 rolled around, the SSD prices were tanking, and you still couldn't buy a PS5.

And unlike a PS5 using the latest hardware, the Switch 2 hardware is from 2020.
Like, c'mon man, come up with a better excuse.

 

[AurynTheCat]

Back in 2020, a 1TB NVMe SSD would have cost $100.
But if you're talking about a Gen4, 7000MB/s capable drive, like the WD SN580, that would have cost $230.
Mind you, that's assuming you could even buy a PS5 due to 2020 shenanigans.
By the time 2021 rolled around, the SSD prices were tanking, and you still couldn't buy a PS5.

And unlike a PS5 using the latest hardware, the Switch 2 hardware is from 2020.
Like, c'mon man, come up with a better excuse.

Mid-2021, I purchased a XPG 1TB GAMMIX S70 Blade PCIe Gen4 M.2 228 for $149.99. It was the cheapest COMPATIBLE drive I could find for the PS5 and it was a year after release. I call BS. You can find Reddit threads of people discussing the pricing around the time of release: https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/iz649d/expanding_your_ps5_drive_space_note_that_nvme/. If you were buying a $100 drive it either wasn't whitelisted by Sony or it was a knock off of some kind.

 

[AurynTheCat]

Back in 2020, a 1TB NVMe SSD would have cost $100.
But if you're talking about a Gen4, 7000MB/s capable drive, like the WD SN580, that would have cost $230.
Mind you, that's assuming you could even buy a PS5 due to 2020 shenanigans.
By the time 2021 rolled around, the SSD prices were tanking, and you still couldn't buy a PS5.

And unlike a PS5 using the latest hardware, the Switch 2 hardware is from 2020.
Like, c'mon man, come up with a better excuse.

Let's also not disregard that Lexar cards are premium storage devices. Not equivalent to some bargain basement possibly not compatible SSD you think you know about for the PS5 at launch.

 

[tennis2]

The switch 1 game cartridges aren't plug&play either though. There's still a good amount of "install" time when you insert a cartridge (and probably downloads all updates released since the OG version).

Can't weigh in over the "necessity" of mSDe compared to regular mSD, but I can't imagine they'd choose an uber expensive fledgeling tech if they didn't have to. And I don't see Nintendo adopting user-installed internal SSDs

 

[KennyRedSocks]

Praise be.
Hopefully, this is the end of UHS-II/III and CFexpress type A.

 

[AurynTheCat]

The switch 1 game cartridges aren't plug&play either though. There's still a good amount of "install" time when you insert a cartridge (and probably downloads all updates released since the OG version).

Can't weigh in over the "necessity" of mSDe compared to regular mSD, but I can't imagine they'd choose an uber expensive fledgeling tech if they didn't have to. And I don't see Nintendo adopting user-installed internal SSDs

Praise be.
Hopefully, this is the end of UHS-II/III and CFexpress type A.

What does CFe type A have to do with video games. There's no chance micro SD express will be replacing CFe type A in mid to high-end photography and video production equipment, which is where it's more regularly used, based on form-factor durability alone.

 

[usertests]

The Switch 2 implementation will mainstream the Express standard which will drive prices down. This is a good thing.

If the console has any degree of success, it will single-handedly save SD Express from irrelevance.

Too bad they didn't support SDUC at the same time. It would be great if the Steam Deck 2 does. A 4 TB microSD card has been announced, and I guess 8-16 TB will be plausible within the next 10 years.

 

[snemarch]

I'm not **too** worried about the move to MicroSD Express, prices should eventually go down.

But the cartridges... I'm not sure if there's intent to move towards only using them as activation dongles, but even the current "Oh yeah lol, you have to download another 50 gigabytes of patches" sucks.

 

[Pierce2623]

For those worried, cheap old sd cards work in the new standard ports

 

[Pierce2623]

If the console has any degree of success, it will single-handedly save SD Express from irrelevance.

Too bad they didn't support SDUC at the same time. It would be great if the Steam Deck 2 does. A 4 TB microSD card has been announced, and I guess 8-16 TB will be plausible within the next 10 years.

Except for the fact that everybody will just put old sd cards innit anyways, as they’ll still work.

 

[Pierce2623]

Praise be.
Hopefully, this is the end of UHS-II/III and CFexpress type A.

How would a gaming device affect photographers using CFexpress type a ?

 

[usertests]

For those worried, cheap old sd cards work in the new standard ports

Except for the fact that everybody will just put old sd cards innit anyways, as they’ll still work.

Define "work".
Switch 2 Only Supports Newer Micro SD Express Format for Expanded Storage

Older regular SD cards will not work on the Nintendo Switch 2

However, while regular microSD memory cards are not compatible for use as storage, they can be used to copy screenshots and videos from an older Nintendo Switch system.

But luckily for me, I have no plans to buy Switch 2 anyway. I'm just interested in the effects it will have on the industry.

 

[Heiro78]

For those worried, cheap old sd cards work in the new standard ports

Are you saying that the Switch 2 will recognize and be able to use a non express microsd card?

 

[CelicaGT]

Except for the fact that everybody will just put old sd cards innit anyways, as they’ll still work.

According to Nintendo ONLY Express cards will work.

https://en-americas-support.nintend...ard-compatibility-with-nintendo-switch 2

 

[KennyRedSocks]

What does CFe type A have to do with video games. There's no chance micro SD express will be replacing CFe type A in mid to high-end photography and video production equipment, which is where it's more regularly used, based on form-factor durability alone.

Not MicroSD Express, but the SD Express standard in general.
The limitations of UHS-II is what has been holding SD cards back from competing with other NVMe options.

How would a gaming device affect photographers using CFexpress type a ?

By popularizing the standard and its media.

 

[Pierce2623]

Not MicroSD Express, but the SD Express standard in general.
The limitations of UHS-II is what has been holding SD cards back from competing with other NVMe options.



By popularizing the standard and its media.

Well, real world performance is as far away from the headline numbers as any other storage standard. I’m wondering whether the Seitch 2 is pcie3 or pcie4. If it’s pcie3 the advertised data rate is basically totally maxing out a pcie lane, which means it will be even more difficult to maintain that level of performance in anything other than completely ideal situation.

 

[KennyRedSocks]

Well, real world performance is as far away from the headline numbers as any other storage standard. I’m wondering whether the Seitch 2 is pcie3 or pcie4. If it’s pcie3 the advertised data rate is basically totally maxing out a pcie lane, which means it will be even more difficult to maintain that level of performance in anything other than completely ideal situation.

Sure, but as long as it matches the performance of CFexpress type A is really all that matters in terms of market adoption.