Difference between these two NodeMCU boards? I recently received a NodeMCU (identical to the one shown in the first picture below) and originally, I was unable to connect it to my computer which eventually turned out to be driver issues; however, during my initial panic, I found that there seems to be two variations of the NodeMCU board. 

As you can see from the pictures below, at first glance there seems to be no difference to the boards, however, some of the more noticeable differences are that the first one has only one "orange" chip whereas the second one has two. Moreover, the first one has a large square chip towards the USB port wheareas the second seems to have a rectangular one.

First one:


Second one:


I would really appreciate if someone could enlighten me to what these small differences are between the two boards are and also what are the implications of these differences (if there are any).

Thank you in advance for any help,

Kind regards,
John
The top one is a real NodeMCU version 1 board (ESP-12E module).

The bottom one is a knock-off copy - looks like the same module on it.

The biggest difference is the USB interface. The real one uses a CP2102 USB to UART bridge. The copy uses a CH340G chip.  The CH340G is notoriously unstable and liable to die at a moments notice.  The CP2102 is far more reliable.  I recently accidentally nuked a Wemos D1 Mini pro which has the same CP2102 on it with 12V.  It took out the voltage regulator. It took out the ESP8266 chip.  I replaced both those, and the CP2102 was proved to still be working fine. More than could be said for a CH340G - glance at one of those wrong and they die.