user-1: I've been using the stm32f4 discovery up until now but I've heard Arduinos are easier to use. While looking for an Arduino Genuino Uno Rev3 board, I was told to get a knock off instead.
Is there any real difference between Arduino boards and other knock off micros with similar specs? 
I really just want to get a feel for what it's like using an 'easier' micro. It doesn't need to be extra special.

user-1: I think the reason why people say Arduino is easier to use is because it has a nice IDE and code upload is rarely troublesome.
Especially, the IDE allows the user to code hardware related functions with simplified functions. 
For example, when coding an Arduino Sketch, the user doesn't really have to bother about registers.
The Arduino family are based on Atmel chips, so when it comes to raw hardware performance, Arduino performances are identical to Atmel chips.
If you are familiar with what you have(STM32F4) and don't want to make things easier but rather challenging, you don't have to move to Arduino.
Of course, if you want a simple & fast prototyping, nothing beats Arduino. (<- my personal opinion)

user-1: 
This is Google Trend of Arduino (blue) versus four other boards: STM32 (red), Teensy (green), MSP430 (yellow) and PIC32 (magenta).
That means lot of people using Arduino, making hardware and software, writing blogs, answering questions. That's the biggest plus of Arduino.

-1: <p>I've been using the stm32f4 discovery up until now but I've heard Arduinos are easier to use. While looking for an Arduino Genuino Uno Rev3 board, I was told to get a knock off instead.</p>

<p>Is there any real difference between Arduino boards and other knock off micros with similar specs? 
I really just want to get a feel for what it's like using an 'easier' micro. It doesn't need to be extra special.</p>
 -1: <p>I think the reason why people say Arduino is <strong>easier</strong> to use is because it has a nice IDE and code upload is rarely troublesome.</p>

<p>Especially, the IDE allows the user to code hardware related functions with simplified functions. </p>

<p>For example, when coding an Arduino Sketch, the user doesn't really have to bother about registers.</p>

<p>The Arduino family are based on Atmel chips, so when it comes to raw hardware performance, Arduino performances are identical to Atmel chips.</p>

<p>If you are familiar with what you have(STM32F4) and don't want to make things easier but rather challenging, you don't have to move to Arduino.</p>

<p>Of course, if you want a simple &amp; fast prototyping, nothing beats Arduino. (&lt;- my personal opinion)</p>
 -1: <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHanj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHanj.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>This is Google Trend of Arduino (blue) versus four other boards: STM32 (red), Teensy (green), MSP430 (yellow) and PIC32 (magenta).</p>

<p>That means lot of people using Arduino, making hardware and software, writing blogs, answering questions. That's the biggest plus of Arduino.</p>
