Microsoft will charge $300 to upgrade the Surface Pro 9 from a 256GB SSD to 512GB, and $600 to upgrade from 256GB to 1TB. Upgrading the Surface Laptop Go 2 from a 128GB SSD to 256GB costs between $50 and $100 if you buy from Microsoft or another retailer, and higher-capacity drives aren't available. And DIY upgrades for most of these devices can save you money and get you more storage than the companies will sell you directly, even though prices for 2230 drives like the Sabrent Rocket are relatively high for a midrange SSD ( $90 for 512GB and $160 for 1TB). It's also the drive size of choice for Valve's Steam Deck. Microsoft uses them all over the place, from the Surface Pro 9 to the Surface Laptop Go, and even the Xbox Series X and S have 2230 M.2 drives installed inside. DIY storage upgrades can save you a tonīut 30-mm-long 2230 SSDs are slowly becoming more prevalent. So being able to buy SSDs in full retail packaging with actual warranties is an improvement. Until recently, the best way to get upgrades for these drives was to buy a warranty-less, possibly used white-label drive from the likes of Newegg or eBay. Some of the smaller-but-still-reputable SSD makers like Sabrent and Inland have finally started offering 30 mm-long versions of some of their SSDs complete with retail packaging and standard warranties. This has made it harder to do that old tech-savvy money-saving trick: buying a 128GB or 256GB version of a computer and upgrading it with a 512GB or 1TB drive for a fraction of what the company would charge you to do it.īut that's slowly changing. The Surface's storage slot uses the standard M.2 interface, and most devices make it easy to access, but the PCs use relatively rare 30-mm-long drives that most of the big SSD makers simply don't offer to regular consumers. I say 'in theory' because it hasn't been as simple as going out, buying a drive, and installing it. Newer Surfaces feature detailed repair manuals and, at least in theory, easily upgradeable SSDs.

Microsoft's Surface devices had a well-deserved reputation for being impossible to repair in their early years, but Microsoft has sought to change that more recently.

Surface pro 8 storage upgrade