Hi, totally new to world of electronics and Arduino.
Saw a seller selling Arduino Nano V3 CH340. Wondering how to know if it is a clone or an original?
No qualms about getting a clone since just trying out some simple projects at the moment. Anything i should be concerned about?
I read that some drivers needs to be downloaded for Nano before use? Will a clone have trouble with it?
If it carries the CH340 it is a clone because the original uses the FT232.
Anyway it is not important, just install the driver for the CH340 and you are done (if you use linux it is not necessary), they work exactly the same.
Thank you! Oh wait i can get the CH340 driver from the Arduino site? Btw using windows 10.
The important thing is a mcu installed of the board. The original Nano and a good clones has an Atmega328P(A) mcu on it.
But there are clones with Atmega328PB, Atmega168PA or some china mcu's. Such boards don't fully compatible with original and can cause a lot of problems for a beginner. Therefore it is better to avoid them.
Link to manufacturer's website
If you are starting out but genuine from the Arduino store 
When you have experience , then choose .
Thanks to some boards with possibly fake CH340 chips, you might encounter some problems. Note that not all clone manufacturers use those (possibly fake) CH340 chips.
The latest driver will not work for those CH340 chips; https://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/file/65.html?time=2023-03-16%2022:57:59 is the latest one that seems to work. Do not allow Windows to update that driver.
I'm with @hammy here; it will save you some possible grief.
IMO the best solution to start with is an Arduino UNO R4 minima (or WiFi). It's original, it's the newest model(s), and not expensive.
Anyway, I used dozens of Arduino clones (UNO, Mega, Nano, Mini, etc...) and I have never had any problem with them, and/or the serial drivers.
Maybe that's because I don't generally buy directly from China, I almost every time buy items from either Amazon (my best one is the german AZDelivery) or eBay where during those years I have selected my preferred reliable sellers list from Italy (where I live) and Europe, and when needed I always buy components from them, but it's my choice.
PS: that's just my opinion, but even if items cost more than the same sold from well known China sites, we're generally talking about a difference of a few cents or a couple of Euro for more expensive ones, but I don't need large quantities (where even an Euro more for each piece could make a difference), I don't do this for work or business, so I can easily contact them if needed, and they have a faster delivery.
Ok, I admit it, I don't like waiting 20+ days for a component...
Anyway, even if I know some are just "bulk and raw chinese resellers" of items directly from China, about half of my bookmarked resellers (like AZDelivery) aren't.
Not as a dispute, but just as a note - if you buy directly on Aliexpress, then the price difference can be several times compared to the original. But this only applies to the most popular older models, such as the Uno Nano Mega. Newer boards either expensive or are completely absent on Ali. For example, I didn’t find Uno R4 there
Appeciate it (and no dispute at all, just personal opinions ), and I know those price differences existence, but for hobbysts like me paying a (very) few Euros more balances all the things I get (and listed before) buying from a more "local" reseller.
Just to complete this "chat" (I promise I'll then stop... ) I know some are chinese people just located in Europe or Italy, where I hope they pay our local taxes (and that's the main reason for the price difference...), and where they just set a local storage up to provide faster deliveries for most requested items.
But about half of my bookmarked sellers aren't just raw importers. Just see AZDelivery: they have their products clearly marked and even the CPUs/ESP are silk-screened with their brand (not an easy or cheap thing to do), provide free PDFs for each article (a good thing, even for beginners), and they are lightning fast customer support replies. And can easily send items back for refund.
IMHO it's worth it for a bunch of Euros.
Just my opinion, obviously, based just on my requirements anyway..
Lol really appreciate all the advise here.
Gosh... The learning curve is so.....steep...
am getting dizzy already. Don't mind getting original but yeah... the waiting time and learning to figure out how and where to get parts and possibly if other components that aren't produced by arduino, will they be compatible with the Nano in future. Cringe
Choices decisions decisions.
Where we stay there doesn't to be much options or places to get electronic parts. I'll just have to first figure out how and where to get it while not letting shipping burn a hole in my pocket.
I guess for now like y'all said, will get the original first. Next step figure out how and where and budget. And hope the wait for it isn't going to take forever.
The last time we got something shipped from UK...somehow the parcel took months to reach us. 
We relocate once in a while and aren't so familiar with how things work where we at now but will have to figure it out.
For curiosity sake and convenience sake. I'll get the clone (it'll only take 2 days to reach us).
Try the .exe file you share and hope for the best!
A huge thank you for your help! @MaximoEsfuerzo !
I agree with you @hammy and @sterretje about getting the original. Initially started wanting to do so but the idea of shipping costs and waiting time seems off-putting tbh.
After all the insightful inputs shared here. Am happy to get both original and clone. And figure out the differences and agony of failure and frustration along the way with the help from folks here. 
@docdoc reason we choose Nano is simply because being total noobs, we found a project on YouTube that looks simple enough for an eight year old kid and his mum. 
The project uses a Nano so yea...being inexperienced and all just kind of bumping around and figuring things out along the way.
Pray when the clone arrives we figure out how to get the driver installed and complete the kids first project.
I'm not sure what you mean by parts/components. Parts so you can repair the board? Or modules that you can connect.
Assuming the latter,
But any modules currently on the market will work equally well (or not) on both clone and original.Additional remarks
Starting by using someone else’s project off the internet is not a great way to start . ( these often raise their own issues and/or are badly written )
There are examples within the Arduino software to play with - flash the led , try digital input etc - A better way to learn
in my experience, i had less issues with the clone than the real one
I'd like to disagree with that. The R4 is just too incompatible with too much of the existing ... stuff ... that is out there that makes Arduino such a usable platform.
Even a Nano Every, which still uses an ATmega processor (and is theoretically better than a Nano R3 in a number of ways), makes it difficult to follow tutorials using many of the existing libraries (and since many of the libraries are written by individuals who may or may not still be doing Arduino stuff, it's not clear whether there will ever be updated versions.)
On the plus side, the biggest problem I've heard of with imported Nano "clones" was back when they were being built with apparently counterfeit ft232rl USB chips, and even those worked fine till FTDI got all annoyed and intentionally made their driver stop working with them.
(They're not really "clones" any more. "Someone" has done a bunch of clever cost-reduction engineering and parts substitution on what was originally a rather overpriced board...)
A similar issue is currently happening with the CH340 based boards; do a search for "can't set com-state".
