user10412: what is the difference between a motor driver(like L293D) and a motor shield?
what are the advantage?disadvantages of both?
And which one do you suggest ?

user70824: A motor driver is a chip that drives motors. A motor shield is a circuit board with connections on it that contains a motor driver chip that drives motors.
A shield is convenient since you can just plug it into your Arduino and wire the motors direct to it, but it lacks the flexibility of a raw driver chip which you can wire up precisely as your project demands

user11515: The differrence is usablilty and, in some cases, the protection of your chip; if there is a surge of more than 5V to your driver it will fry, which is why some drivers have onboard voltage regulators and a heatsink for overheating problems. Advantage of motor driver is that you can use it as per your requirements, whereas a shield is fixed and you cannot change any aspects.

user4143: A motor driver is a chip that drives motors.  A motor shield is a circuit board with connections on it that contains a motor driver chip that drives motors.
A shield is convenient since you can just plug it in to your Arduino and wire the motors direct to it, but it lacks the flexibility of a raw driver chip which you can wire up precisely as your project demands.

10412: <p>what is the difference between a motor driver(like L293D) and a motor shield?</p>

<p>what are the advantage?disadvantages of both?</p>

<p>And which one do you suggest ?</p>
 70824: <p><em>A motor driver is a chip that drives motors. A motor shield is a circuit board with connections on it that contains a motor driver chip that drives motors.</em></p>
<p><strong>A shield is convenient since you can just plug it into your Arduino and wire the motors direct to it, but it lacks the flexibility of a raw driver chip which you can wire up precisely as your project demands</strong></p>
 11515: <p>The differrence is usablilty and, in some cases, the protection of your chip; if there is a surge of more than 5V to your driver it will fry, which is why some drivers have onboard voltage regulators and a heatsink for overheating problems. Advantage of motor driver is that you can use it as per your requirements, whereas a shield is fixed and you cannot change any aspects.</p>
 4143: <p>A motor driver is a chip that drives motors.  A motor shield is a circuit board with connections on it that contains a motor driver chip that drives motors.</p>

<p>A shield is convenient since you can just plug it in to your Arduino and wire the motors direct to it, but it lacks the flexibility of a raw driver chip which you can wire up precisely as your project demands.</p>
