For beginners in development boards, my purchasing suggestion is within 100.

This price range can be described as a big battle scene; at this price, you can buy an MCU or a proper development board that can run Linux and Android systems.

I believe this price range actually requires both usable hardware specifications and a software ecosystem.

For those who want to get started with development boards but don’t know what they are and want to try them out, I recommend choosing development boards like RP2040 or ESP32, ESP32-S3. From the perspective of entry barriers, I suggest not to touch various RISC-V based Linux development boards and ARM-based Linux development boards for now, as the hardware complexity of these boards is significantly higher, and the Linux systems used in software have a high entry barrier for many of us coming from Windows, plus the lag caused by low specifications.

For beginners, I also recommend two directions: one is to choose a development board that is well-adapted to graphical programming software for a simpler entry.

For example, ESP32, Arduino.

Another option is for those with a bit of programming background who can directly use Arduino IDE.

MicroPython, CircuitPython, and other programming software.

At this point, the options become more diverse. I recommend choosing ESP32-S3 or RP2040. In terms of cost-effectiveness, RP2040 is the cheapest at just over 10 bucks.

ESP32 costs around 20 bucks.

ESP32-S3 is priced around 30.

I can only say each has its own merits; choose according to your preference.

If you can’t make up your mind, I suggest directly choosing the ESP32 development board. Note that it is the ESP32, not the ones with suffixes like ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3, etc., as these boards were released later and do not have as much software support as this veteran.

ESP32 can be said to be one of the best-supported development boards in terms of ecosystem and performance. In terms of software support, almost all graphical programming software such as Mixly and Mind+ support ESP32.

Because it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it has higher playability and can easily be used for various applications on the Internet of Things. Moreover, if you want to code directly later, you can seamlessly choose to use Arduino IDE, PlatformIO, ESP-IDF, MicroPython, CircuitPython, and other programming methods. It can be said that it has the most comprehensive programming ecosystem for MCUs without a doubt.

All kinds of sensors and Dupont wires can be used interchangeably with Arduino and RP2040.

Some may ask why not choose Arduino. If I had previously suggested you choose Arduino, but now the performance of Arduino has become too poor. The recently released Arduino UNO R4 is also not very good in my opinion. The cost-effectiveness is not high, and besides the official support for Arduino IDE, there is currently no adaptation for other software for Arduino UNO R4. Therefore, Arduino is really not the best choice now.

If you find this type of development board interesting, you can make robots, simple automation, or even relatively complex electronic products, such as using ESP32 to make a game console.

At this point, you will naturally find this thing a bit interesting. During the learning and playing process, many skills will have already been mastered, and at this time, getting another development board will be much easier.

If you buy a development board to serve as a project and software carrier, I recommend Orange Pi Zero3, which can run Linux distributions and Android systems, has decent performance, and various interfaces are basically complete.

No matter if you install Home Assistant as a smart home control center

or install Klipper as a 3D printer host

or even as a set-top box for watching videos, it performs quite well. You can also install Docker to achieve more functions.

If you are very interested in these functions but are new to them, I think you can buy one, but you must be open to learning. The operational process is quite complex, and you must learn to solve problems on your own and learn to search for the tutorials you need to master this development board. At this point, whether you use it as a small server or something else, at least you have achieved maximum utility. Even if you don’t know how to use it or feel tired of tinkering and haven’t gotten it right, the loss isn’t too great.

If you find it quite nice after achieving the desired functions and feel a sense of satisfaction, even becoming somewhat attached to this little thing, then it is time to dive into development boards, and you can choose from various fancy development boards, just don’t get overwhelmed.

Welcome to visit our development board selection website, although it’s not very complete yet, we have already recorded around 500 development boards. If you are interested or have needs, you can check out our selection website, if you have any good suggestions, you can also say it in the group or leave us a message.

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