I don't see why you wouldn't do as much SMT as possible. There is no advantage to though-hole stuff that I am aware of. (I welcome corrections on this point.) You can do hand assembly and rework of both through-hole and SMT down to (arguably) 0603 components (or maybe even 0402 if you have good eyesight and non-shaky hands). As for power stuff, lots is availale in SMT versions, so that's not a consideration. Through-hole stuff is going obsolete anyway. Finally, SMT stuff lends itself to automated assembly, which -- in the long run -- will be cheaper.
Ultimately, you should talk to the folks who will stuff your board. They can offer better advice tailored to your situation than we can here.
Stuart
I have a design that's very low production quantity(~50 pieces per year)
that has a couple of chips that only come in surface mount versions. Does
anyone have any opinions on what the lowest cost assembly option is with the
design, is it better to attempt to do the whole board in SMT with just a few
components through hole(things like power components) or do you do the board
mostly through hole except the 2 surface mount chips(noting that one is 48
pin tqfp). Or do you go with two boards, one with all surface mount(except
for perhaps the connector between the boards) and then do a second board
with all the through hole components.
We've managed to keep things strictly through hole until this point in time.
Unfortunately it's no longer viable to go all through hole with new designs
of any complexity.
I appreciate any opinions.
Thanks