What is the definition of "hardware" in the scope of the Hardware Recommendations Proposal

Question

Proposal: Hardware Recommendations

Hardware in the title of this proposal is a very vague term. While this may be intentionally vague, most of the example questions in the proposal seems to focus on traditional computing hardware. That is re-enforced in the discussion in Site name of (computing) hardware recommendations and longevity of answers

15 years ago, this could have been a very simple line that was easily evaluated, but in the current world, the line between computing hardware and non-computing hardware is becoming more difficult to discern. Internet connected devices are everywhere.... Phones, Cars, Refrigerators, TV's, Media Boxes (Roku, AppleTV, et al), and a slew of devices that don't fit into any category. So where does "computing" hardware end and other hardware begin? How do we decide if a recommendation about which coffee maker is better is off-topic when a question about which CPU is better is on-topic? And where is the line between on-topic hardware and off-topic hardware?

_{Given the committment % of the current proposal, this might be a good discussion for meta, but I figured I would get the discussion started early with the intention of moving this to meta.HR if/when this moves to beta}

Answer 1

I think the answer lies in the fact that hardware proposals will be most likely used as a computer hardware site, and other subjects will be seen as off topic (Toasters). I believe that to be on topic, a computer needs two have to things.:

a processor

and an intended ability to do computing

In my opinion, internet usage counts as computing.

I realize that the only real qualification to be a computer is to store data according to a set of instructions. But realistically, a coffee maker should not count as a computer.

Coffee makers belong either in an appliances site, OR in a section of Hardware Recommendations in a section labeled "Appliances."