Are questions about (development) devices allowed on Stack Overflow?

Question

I've seen many questions on Stack Overflow asking which devices are best for developers. This made me wonder if questions asking for hardware device recommendations (best device for programming, best device within a certain budget, etc.) are on-topic for Stack Overflow, or if they should be asked somewhere else?

For Instance check these links:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/390156/can-anybody-recommend-a-laptop-for-development
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2168978/best-laptop-for-software-development
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27308/good-laptop-for-solaris-development
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5361355/perfect-laptop-for-cross-platform-phone-app-development-ios-android-wp7

etc.

Answer 1

Questions about choosing new hardware are shopping questions, and shopping questions are covered by the blog post Q&A is Hard, Let’s Go Shopping! Verdict: no.

Questions about "best" anything are almost always "bad subjective," and bad subjective questions are covered in the blog post Good Subjective, Bad Subjective. Verdict: no.

Or in short: no + no = really NO.

Answer 2

Questions about development devices do have a place on Stack Overflow. A question like “how do I upload a new bootloader to my X development board” fits squarely in the “software tools commonly used by programmers” part of the description of Stack Overflow.

However the type of question you suggest “best device for …” isn't suitable for Stack Overflow. That's not a matter of topic, it's a matter of the nature of the question. These questions have no place anywhere on Stack Exchange.