Hackster's Gift Guide 2025: The Best New SBCs, Dev Boards, AI Hardware, and More

Holiday season is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about gifts — whether you’re hunting for the ideal present for a fellow maker or dropping some not-so-subtle hints about what you’d like to receive. 2025 has been an absolutely bumper year for new and exciting launches, so we’ve picked out our highlights across five categories: single-board computers, development boards, hobbyist kits, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration for affordable stocking-stuffers or have been saving up to blow the budget on something guaranteed to impress, whether your interests sway towards global connectivity or low-power on-device machine learning, whether you’re swayed by the allure of RGB lighting or focus purely on functionality, you’re sure to find something to tickle your fancy below!

Single-board computers

If you’re looking to put something cutting-edge under the tree, it has to be the new Arduino UNO Q (from $44, Arduino). No, that’s not a mistake in categorization: the Q is a standout in the UNO family as it’s a fully-fledged single-board computer, powered by the Dragonwing QRB2210 chip from Arduino’s new owner Qualcomm. It’s fast, flexible, and thanks to an STMicroelectronics STM32U585 coprocessor can handle real-time workloads too. The gadget even offers on-board artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, thanks to the new Arduino App Lab and a partnership with Edge Impulse. It’s not the most powerful SBC around, but it’s definitely one of the most ambitious.

For the traditionalist, there’s the BeagleBoard.org PocketBeagle 2 ($29.29, BeagleBoard.org). Despite having only launched this year, it’s already been upgraded to feature twice the cores at a faster clockspeed plus a 3D-capable graphics processor — and the low price makes it an easy impulse buy

Finally, if money is no object, the new Raspberry Pi 500+ ($200, Raspberry Pi) wedge computer beckons. With 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and an RGB-backlit mechanical keyboard, it’s the ultimate Raspberry Pi — while the original Raspberry Pi 500 ($100, Raspberry Pi) remains a cheaper option with half the RAM, no SSD, and a basic keyboard.

Development boards

Arduino scores another recommendation for those whose projects focus on microcontroller work, thanks to the launch of the new Arduino Nano R4 (from $12.10, Arduino). Designed to do for the compact Arduino Nano family what the R4 refresh did for the larger Arduino UNO range, the low-cost Arduino Nano R4 is powered by a Renesas RA4M1 32-bit microcontroller with an Arm Cortex-M4 core running at up to 48MHz, 32kB of static RAM (SRAM), and 256kB of program flash. The breadboard-friendly layout includes castellated headers for surface-mounting as a module, and there’s even a 5V I2C connector compatible with Arduino’s Modulino boards for solderless expansion.

If you’re a convert to the Raspberry Pi family of microcontrollers, consider the Olimex RP2350-PICO2-BB48 (from €9.95/$11.50, Olimex), an open-hardware twist on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W that boasts a full complement of 48 general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, a generous 16MB of flash storage, and up to 8MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM).

For the maker who prefers things ready-to-run, the M5Stack Cardputer-Adv ($29.90, M5Stack) is an upgraded take on the original Espressif ESP32-S3-based all-in-one design, boasting an improved physical keyboard, a larger battery, better audio, an now boasting an integrated six-axis Bosch Sensortec BMI270 inertial measurement unit — and who could resist that cute little 1.14" ISP color display?

Hobbyist gifts

If you want to put a grin on the retro-enthusiastic hobbyist’s face, there’s really only one thing to put under the tree: an RC2014 Zilog Z80-based microcomputer kit (£101.01/$134 as reviewed, other models from £49/$64.50, Z80 Kits). A long-running series of solder-it-yourself microcomputers, all based around Zilog’s classic and now sadly discontinued eight-bit Z80 processor, the RC2014 family is easily put together and provides hours of vintage-computing fun — and if you outgrow the base kits, expansions let you add everything from displays and soundcards to full compatibility with the Digital CP/M operating system.

If slaving over a soldering iron doesn’t sound like much of a holiday treat, the Olimex RP2350pc (€24.95/$29, Olimex) is a ready-to-run alternative. Built around the Raspberry Pi RP2350B, it’s a fully-functional standalone microcomputer capable of running native and emulated games and software.

For those feeling seasonally generous and flush with cash, an MNT Pocket Reform (from $999, Crowd Supply) is bound to impress. A more compact alternative to the full-scale MNT Reform laptop, the Pocket Reform is a netbook-style portable computer with a fully-open ethos — from the motherboard right through to the chassis.

Internet of Things

For the maker interesting in building something on the Internet of Things (IoT), there could be no better gift than the Particle Tachyon ($299, Particle). An impressively-capable single-board computer featuring the powerful Qualcomm Dragonwing QCM6490, the Tachyon boasts 5G cellular connectivity with 4G LTE fallback — plus Wi-Fi 6E for connection to a local network. The board comes complete with an embedded SIM (eSIM) with network connectivity supported in 40 countries and counting, and each Particle account comes with enough free bandwidth to gather telemetry and handle management for up to 100 devices free-of-charge.

If you’re looking for more of a stocking filler, try the Seeed Studio XIAO nRF54L15 (from $9.90, Seeed Studio), a new entry in the XIAO family of thumbnail-sized development boards featuring the Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15 and supporting Bluetooth Low Energy 6.0, Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and Amazon Sidewalk connectivity.

Home Assistant fans, meanwhile, might appreciate a Home Assistant ZWA-2-shaped package ($69, Home Assistant): a feature-packed USB-connected Z-Wave adapter designed for plug-and-play operation and supporting the new Z-Wave Long Range mode — tested out to a near-mile connection range “under less than ideal circumstances,” its creators promise.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence

If you’re thinking that gifts for the AI enthusiast would blow the budget, fear not: there’s plenty on the edge that won’t break the bank — like the DFRobot UNIHIKER K10 ($28.90, DFRobot), an all-in-one “AI coding board” aimed at those looking to learn about AI at the edge. Despite its low price, it include a full-color display, on-board sensors, and an Espressif ESP32-S3 with plenty of power for on-device tinyML models for sensor fusion, audio processor, and even computer vision. Those who outgrow the stock firmware are able to build their own models, tailored to specific tasks, and quickly deploy them.

For a stocking-filler with a little more oomph, there’s the Radxa Cubie A7Z (from $15, Radxa), an AI-centric single-board computer styled after the Raspberry Pi Zero and boasting an on-board neural coprocessor rated at a claimed three tera-operations per second (TOPS) of minimum-precision compute.

Finally, the Seeed Studio Vibration Anomaly Detection Kit ($17.49, Seeed Studio) is ideal for those looking for real-world use-cases for tinyML, turning a XIAO ESP32-S3 and accelerometer into a flexible vibration sensor capable of monitoring motors and other moving devices for indications of impending failure.

Whatever gifts you’re giving or receiving this season, all of us at Hackster wish you the very happiest of holidays!