@zetasyanthis
- TO-247 for power stuff, SOIC otherwise. Honorable mention goes to SOT-23, which is just pleasantly shaped.
- Anything lithium-polymer
- I tend to avoid maxim, though not really for any good reason other than their insistence on making their own package standards (the μMAX is just SOIC with the dimensions tweaked by fractions of a mil, for example)
- As thick as you can get away with. We're a power engineer, remember! We just put together a 4oz board, even. Yes, four.