Published May 12, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT I’m Adam Conway, an Irish technology fanatic with a BSc in Computer Science and I'm XDA’s Lead Technical Editor. My Bachelor’s thesis was conducted on the viability of benchmarking the non-functional elements of Android apps and smartphones such as performance, and I’ve been working in the tech industry in some way or another since 2017. In my spare time, you’ll probably find me playing Counter-Strike or VALORANT, and you can reach out to me at  adam@xda-developers.com , on Twitter as @AdamConwayIE , on Instagram as AdamConwayIE , or u/AdamConwayIE on Reddit. When you pick a small computer for a project, you usually have to pick a side. If specs matter more than size, you reach for a Raspberry Pi 5 or one of the larger Allwinner and Rockchip boards. If size and power draw matter more than specs, you reach for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, or more often these days, an ESP32 of some flavor.…