Short version:
How about a Hardware mini-reviews section in the forum?
Threads could e.g. be as simple as a recommendation plus (hopefully) the willingness to answer a question or two about it.
Longer Version:
An example:
my (couple years old) Lenovo N581 15.6" laptop has: a wonderful keyboard, a crappy screen, a terrible trackpad, and a sharp edge where the ball of your hand might rest.
Hence I'm looking for a new laptop for work, so I've been looking at lots of reviews - and, at times, trying to get feedback to questions. That's one of dc's strengths - you've a much better chance of getting feedback here. So I thought this would be a good idea.
Of course, instead of a new section, the current mini-reviews section's scope could simply be expanded to include hardware (?)