Do I really need... an SD card slot?

What does it do?

A slot for an SD card or microsd card takes a standard type of memory card. The storage chips inside these keep data even when the device’s power is off, and the card functions much like a PC’S hard drive.

Why would I wantnt one?

Desktop PCS have bigig hhard drives and are easy to upgrade. But phones, tablets and increasingly laptops usese built-in solid-state drivesrive ves ( SSDS), which have leless capacity.it Whwhen so many of us take countless photos and videos, store music and movies, and install dozens of apps, it’s sensible to look for at least 64GB storage in a mobile device and 256GB in a laptop. Many still come with less, and there’s usually no way of increasing it later. That’s where an SD or microsd slot helps. Plug in a card, from around £11 for 32GB (like the Sandisk Ultra, www. snipca.com/25808, pictured), and you have extra space.

What’s the catch?

Memory cards don’t perform as well as internal storage, although if you choose a higher-speed model it may not be noticeably slow. Running apps from them can cause problems, and Android restricts what you can store on them. Some recent versions let hardware manufacturers remove the restrictions. The biggest problem is having no slot. iphones and ipads don’t take microsd cards, and SD is absent from many ultra-thin laptops and Windows tablets.

So can I do without it?

If you have a USB Type-a port, you may be able to leave a very small USB stick (like the Sandisk Ultra Fit, www.snipca.ip com/25809, pictured) plplugged in. Without this or SD, think carefully about whether the device you’re buying has enough storage.