The 'lspci' command lists all PCI devices on the system, including network cards, regardless of whether the kernel has appropriate drivers for them. This makes it the correct tool to check if the hardware is recognized at the PCI level. 'lsusb' is incorrect because it lists USB devices, not PCI devices. 'dmesg | grep -i network' could show kernel messages about network cards, but it would not necessarily list all PCI devices. 'lsmod' is used to display the kernel modules currently loaded, which is useful for driver information but not for listing hardware.