Despite some well founded skeptical comments, I think that Martin's suggestion makes a lot of sense.
It does, up to a point. You mention getting a Lenovo T440s, or T450s. Looking at the specs, I see some potential problems, and there will be no way around them until somebody finds a way to do it. The most serious is that they apparently have USB 3.0, and not USB 2.0, or 1.x. That means that there will be no USB support until the USB 3.0 driver is ready to go. Windows (and Linux) will support USB 2.0 and 1.x devices in the same way that the T410 supports USB 1.x, by using a built in hub to convert the connection to USB 3.0, but you will need a USB 3.0 driver to make it work. I am not even sure that it will work in a virtual machine, since the virtual machine needs the USB driver for the devices. I suspect that most laptops (and many desktops) are going to have the same problem (and it looks like there will be other problems with your selections).
Now, the T410 is soon 5 years old, and it is time to buy a new PC.
Age is a poor reason to update computer hardware, in most cases. If you have something that is doing the job, with few problems, you may be better off to stay with it. It has been my experience that it can take significant work to make newer hardware work. I got a Lenovo L530, because my T510 worked well, and the specs were somewhat similar. It took more than a year to sort out some basic problems, but by year 2, it was working pretty well. WiFi is still a no go on both the T510, and the L530 (still waiting for Multimac). Audio is also a no go on the L530, and it is about 3 years old now.
So what do we do about things like that? Arca Noae (like Mensys) can't afford to buy one of every machine that is on the market, and even if they could, there aren't enough people to do the testing, or problem analysis (never mind write the drivers). So, somebody needs to select a few that are most likely to work, with minimal new stuff required. Okay, do those ones go on the list, or do they wait until the "important" drivers work (which may take months)? If they wait, the devices may no longer be available by the time they get on the list. If they are on the list, before the drivers are written, who will take responsibility if the drivers never get written, for one reason or another? Currently, the best source of information is from those system builders who have the opportunity to test various machines as they pass though their shops. If they won't work with eCS, they can usually sell them with windows, or Linux, installed.
I do not know how many other eCS users who are like me (= buys canned hardware)
I think that more users would buy "canned hardware" if they could determine exactly what the manufacturers put into it. Unfortunately, they sometimes change the hardware part way through a production run, so you may get one machine that works, then try to get the same machine, and it won't. At least if you build your own, you generally have a better idea of what you will end up with. Laptops become a special case, because you can't always select what you want to end up with, and in most cases, you can't even change what you get.
eCS needs to reach out to a wider audience if it is to survive as something else than an anomaly.
Very true. Unfortunately, if you start making lists of what is supported (and those lists will be out of date by the time they are published), you further restrict the audience. That is further complicated when the list only states what does work, and not what has been tested, with the test results. It also doesn't mean the untested devices won't work. Then, you run into the problem where a user gets a device, and can't make it work because they don't understand how to do it. If they, incorrectly, report that it doesn't work, others who do know how to approach those problems may not try it.
I suppose that a list might have limited use, but it must have a way for users to update what is posted, after the device status changes (that is the main problem with the Russian hardware pages). It also shouldn't be tied to Arca Noae, because they don't do everything. OS2 world might be an appropriate place to host such a thing, but it will probably prove to be a huge project. Others have tried it, and the lists became so large, and out of date, that they were just abandoned as being unusable. You have the other problem of data security (hackers messing it up) and being able to let users do legitimate updates, as well.
One thing that we do NOT want to do, is put more work on the backs of those who are writing drivers. They have enough to do without adding more.