> With the exception that the reputed brands may just be the Chinese ones but rebranded.

20 years ago, I'd have said you're crazy, but the reality is this is true more often than not. However, there is one caveat I've noticed. Though this hardware tends to come from the same factories, or same ownership, often the 'namebrand' are the 'A' runs, and in some cases the cheaper so-called 'no-name' brands are the 'B' grade.

This is 100% anecdotal based on personal experiences and failure rates.

Yes, and in my experience, sometimes the off-brand version may be exactly the same in almost every way, except there may be a few components that they skimp on. Otherwise, they will look identical on the outside.

> except there may be a few components that they skimp on.

On the brand name ones or on the off-brand ones? ;)

Both probably, but the off-brand a bit more. :-)

It's absolutely a thing for a product to be made and sold below the standards of the brand name despite being effectively identical. You can find info on it if you look up third shift or ghost shift: https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006...

While the hardware can be the same, reputable brands can still have different firmware/software. Maybe not for a switch like this, but definitely for a router or something like that.

Maybe this post[0]? I remember relating to this part:

> Again, I found multiple identical-looking products on Aliexpress for 10 to 15 euros. I appear to be paying a lot of money for products that I could buy for cheap on random websites is starting to piss me off a bit at this point. I don’t really care about paying too much - I’d be perfectly fine with that if the product did its job. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do that.

[0] https://overengineer.dev/blog/2021/04/25/usb-c-hub-madness.h...