the prolific pl2303 chips are not welcome in windows 8, a new revision exist ... see their web site. the ch340 chip is somewhat native, i have no problems with it the ftdi has made some news with their drivers crippling non genuine adapters, it change the vendor id infos to zero, you must reprogram them, don't go pass the 2.10 whql version, they will issue a new driver warning about non genuine products ... the cp2102 chips, no problems with them. But the problem is you don't really know what chip you have when you buy a cable ... or maybe go at ebay and choose an seller, but avoiding non genuine products is not easy. I usually goes for ftdi, solid communications and speeds... i don't have the "non genuine" issues