Most people tend to engineer for maximum TDP on thermals, and maximum power draw on power supply. It's good design practice, since it depends on what causes th

Most people tend to engineer for maximum TDP on thermals, and maximum power draw on power supply. It's good design practice, since it depends on what causes the "max performance." You don't want a $100 light switch, running in an enclosed space, risking a house fire from a bug in code code. You also don't want a lot of embedded devices crashing hard if a bug makes them draw more power than a small battery or power adapter can source (even momentarily). All these problems have solutions, but the central point is the instant I need to explain "thermal design power" to an eight-grader in an afterschool club for them to get their project working, (as they're struggling to figure out what a current versus a voltage is, or what 'ls' does), or why they should pick a 3A over a 5, the Pi has lost most of its raison e'etre.