Computers nowadays are quite similar to each other, with the lines even between productivity machines and gaming machines beginning to blur significantly. While there are obviously productivity workhorses built for very specific uses, most of the time, a gaming PC is close to what anyone needs no matter what type of task they're actually doing.

However, there's a unique class of computer that's still changing and advancing, and that's the world of Single-Board Computers, or SBCs. These are computers built on a single circuit-board, integrating core components like the CPU, memory, I/O, and more, all on one single board. These are typically used for DIY projects or educational projects, but there are a lot of other reasons you might get one, too. These are some of the most interesting ones out there right now!

6 Anbernic RG35XXSP

SBC gaming is a lot of fun

The Anbernic RG35XXSP may not seem like a conventional SBC, but it absolutely is. It's a clamshell gaming handheld that mimics the Game Boy Advance SP, H700 SoC powered by four 64-bit Cortex-A53 cores, a Mali G31 GPU, and 1GB of DDR4 RAM. It's got a pretty good battery life, great performance, a nice screen, and good controls. It also runs Linux, and you can install a custom firmware on it with ease.

There are plenty of SBC gaming handhelds out there, but this is one of many that have managed to captivate me. Others include the Miyoo Mini+ and the Anbernic RG35XX, but there are loads to choose from out there if you simply want to start gaming on an SBC.

5 Flipper Zero

Unconventional, but still technically an SBC

The Flipper Zero isn't what you would expect of an SBC as such, but it has a lot of the same characteristics and I would argue falls under the SBC category. You can flash custom firmware and interface GPIO devices that you hook up to it, expanding its capabilities considerably.

It's a great tool for testing your cybersecurity, and you can use it to try and break into things like your Wi-Fi networks, clone NFC tags, and more. It's a fantastic tool in anyone's hacking arsenal, and I love just how much it's capable of doing.

4 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

Cheap and small

The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is a tiny SBC that's great for beginners. It can run the GUI-based Raspberry Pi OS, and will only set you back $20. It's not the most powerful SBC and will be pretty easy to bring to its knees, but it's an interesting and cheap way to get started while also being able to build something genuinely useful out of it. You can even do something like hook a camera up to it.

3 Milk-V Duo S

RISC-V and Arm in the one package

SBCs come in many weird and wonderful forms, and the Milk-V Duo S is a fun one for sure. It comes with an Arm SoC on-board alongside a RISC-V SoC, and you can switch between them with a physical switch on the board itself. You can even get a camera to hook up to it for motion detection and more, and it's a great way to experience the RISC-V architecture for the first time.

When we reviewed it, the only downside was that the Arm software wasn't working at the time. You can still give RISC-V a go though, which is pretty exciting given that it's a new architecture.

2 ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module7

A decent NPU in an SBC compatible with Jetson Nano

There's a lot of exciting stuff going on in the Artificial Intelligence space too, and the ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module7 looks to capitalize on that. It comes with a Rockchip RK3588 clocked at up to 2.4GHz, a 6 TOPS NPU, and support for up to 32GB of memory. It's compatible with Nvidia's Jetson Nano interface with support for PCIe, perfect for edge computing, AI, and more. It also supports standard AI libraries like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and MxNET, and the deployment of LLMs through RKLLM.

It's a pretty heavy-duty SBC, but it's an SBC nonetheless. You'll need to really know what you're doing to push it to its full potential, but there's a lot of exciting things happening in this space.

1 Libre Computer AML S805x AC

Older, but still good

This is a significantly older SBC than the rest on this list, but it's still a good option. It's cheap, and it's a great starter SBC with some great functionality. It can boot off of a USB and can decode H.265, H.264, and VP9, while being powered by an Amlogic S805X SoC. While the documentation can be lacking, because it's been out for a few years, you can find people who have already run into problems with it solving them for you, rather than waiting for others to figure them out while the product is new. It can even run Android!

If you want something a bit more modern, Libre Computer have other options, like the Libre Computer Alta AML-A311D-CC AI which came out at the end of last year.