Are questions about whether certain types of hardware exist on-topic on Super User?

Question

Another SuperUser user voted to have my question closed as off-topic due to asking for recommendations. I asked whether 4K TVs with DisplayPort exist. That's not directly asking for recommendations, although providing examples of said items is ideal.

Assuming this does qualify as a recommendation question: A question on the Meta site mentions hardware questions and that recommendations aren't allowed. Denying recommendations on StackExchange seems like a strange policy since there's a SE site dedicated just to software recommendations and a similar one for hardware recommendations (beta).

Answer 1

My take (as a user, not as a moderator) is that questions relating to hardware devices and how they connect to a computer would be on topic. Asking if a certain part exists feels very borderline.

Reasons to say it is off topic would include the fact that MANY questions asking this are poorly written, and are not received well by the community. Those that do ask good questions with the details we need to form a proper answer will usually involve turning it into a hardware recommendation (which is off topic).

My reason to say it is on topic is if it is being used strictly from a computer. In this case, it may also come down to an XY Problem, and would need to be edited anyways.

In your particular case, with the 4K TVs with DisplayPort input, I'd probably re-write it to ask about what to look for to get 4K resolution through a DisplayPort cable, or something similar. If that happens to show off products that can do it, then the answers are hopefully helpful enough for the next person to understand that yes, something exists, or no, something does not exist.