So many boards my head hurts! Help please!

[Angelus2141]

Hi All,
First time posting, found this board after some youtube videos and I need your help. I am planning a project where space will be a concern but I want to do as much as possible in that space. My initial problem though is, i dont know what board to go for. There are so many and so many reviews I think i melted my brain watching them all. I was hoping if I give you all an idea of what the board will need to work with you might be able to point me in the right direction for a board (and well all parts really). So here goes...

1.The board will definately have a display attached something in the region of about 2.4 inch LCD although size might go up or down a little.
2.The device will be emitting various sounds based on the program/video running at the time.
3.There will be many LEDs although these will be internally mounted and shine though holes so im hoping not to use the bulb kind.
4.I want the device to be portable so im thinking of using Li-ion polymer batteries but want these to be rechargeable through an external connection (maybe even wireless charging if theres one small enough or one I can tear down).
5.While the LCD will probably be touch screen there will be several input buttons but these will need to be flush with a case so im thinking touch sensitive buttons instead of actual click buttons, im not sure yet.
6. I would like good-excellent video quality playback (no stuttering).
7. There may be several programs running at once unless I learn to code well enough that activating one programs shuts down the other. So good ram amount would be nice.
8. I dont know how taxed the CPU will be so im thinker more Ghz is better.
9. This will all be housed in a small form factor so im thinking a board with good power management would be best and maybe some passive cooling. Active (with a fan) only if necessary.
10. I am willing to do some modifications to make a board fit. Like removal of Ethernet or USB ports as necessary but would prefer to avoid this if at all possible.
11.Must have wifi, bluetooth not so much.
12.support for various sensors like temp, pressure, humidity, magnetometer. I was also hoping to use some of the motion sensors or range finders ive seen to try and make a Aliens style motion sensor. But that may be beyond the technology and is definitely beyond me right now. Also camera, 3d camera, gyro, accelerometer, the usual.

Ok so thats alot. Im hoping one of you knowledgeable people will be able to at least narrow the selection to like 3. Ive seen rasp pi, banana pi, orange pi, asus, lattepanda, odroid, rock64, UdOOx86, lemaker, chip, and they all just made me think.... why so damn many.

So thanks in advance for any and all board/component recommendations.

[Kichinokimi]

I'm not gonna go and say you are in over your head but I think you might be. How many projects have you done like this so far? What OS will you be running? What is the thing even gonna do?

[ThompsonTinkers]

Yeah, this sounds like a pretty complex goal. If I was gonna tackle this, I'd take (at least) three projects

I'd suggest start simple. Pick a project that you can use as a skill builder (minty pi, or just about any raspberry pi project). In addition to experience, this gets you an experimental platform. You can write software, and add hardware to prototype some of the features you've outlined above. Your prototypes can be messy, and should not be built for portability. Just try to get them to run _at all_.

After that, you can get into balancing your power and space budgets. Battery life is a trade off against space and power consumption. You'll have to find a mix that you are comfortable with. This is where you figure out if you can fit the features you want into the form factor that you want. Don't try to fit it into the final package, just find a feature mix that works for you.

Finally, design your product. Specify your enclosure, figure out how and where you're going to mount your components. Think hard about closing and opening up your case so that you can repair your work. This is the final gee-whiz version that you can show off to dates[1].

So after all of that, step 1 and 2 should probably be based around some kind of Raspberry Pi. They are cheap, and widely available. There are very many example projects to draw on, some of them even on this forum. Once you have a rough idea of what your requirements actually are, you will be in a better place to choose another board. If you even need to choose another board.

[1]: Only the missus has really stuck with me past that. "Oh, is this another 'Yes, dear' moment?" she says...