They are basically the same thing. Difference in price is whether medium or high density, thickness of board and type of edging used.

Let me try to clear the confusion. All the mentioned material are termed as chipboards or particle boards, made from compressed wood chips. Difference in quality is in density of the wood chips and the lamination, i.e the surface finish. The cheapest type would be chipboard laminated with recycled paper, which scratches easily and bloats when in contact with water. Furniture made from this is available in most furniture stores but never in stores such as Harvey Norman, XYQT or Rozel, just to name a few. Melamine board is chipboard laminated with melamine paper (treated paper) and is more hard wearing and water resistant (not waterproof). Compressed wood is basically chipboard as the name suggests. All these boards come in sizes of either 4'x8' or 6'x8' in their raw form prior to being sawn and made into furniture pieces. When these boards are are sawn into custom sizes, all the edges are exposed and has to be banded (edging). Banding material can be in the form of printed recycled paper, pvc or abs. All these differences contribute to price level. Although there is the rare exception, general rule is when purchasing furniture, the cheaper it is, the poorer the quality since furniture maker supplies come from the same factories. You get what you pay for. But to be on the safe side, buy from reputable stores.

You're welcome . I think what he/she meant would be MDF board (sounds cheap) and sometimes termed as engineered wood (sounds expensive ). Its made from wood fibre and denser/tougher than chipboards. MDF can also be moulded into different forms. You should check out.... say Lorenzo or Rozel to get a feel of prices. Like Cellini, they are all local manufacturers and compete in the same market segment.