Three bills. That’s all you need to get a quality laptop. It won’t be a laptop with a huge screen or an ultra-fast processor. It won’t run complex video-editing programs or graphics-intensive games. But it can be a laptop that’s lightweight, well-built and more than capable of performing the basic array of computer tasks — emailing, web surfing, streaming videos, running spreadsheets and word processors, et al — if you know which ones to buy.

Spot Cool Stuff took a look every laptop computer that’s available for $300 or less. Here’s a review of our three favorites:

• The Acer C720, which, amazingly costs less than $200!

• The HP Chromebook 14, with head-turning looks and a 9-hour battery life.

• The Gateway LT41P04u, which runs a full version of Windows 8 and features a touchscreen.

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Most readers of this blog have people on their gift list who love traveling with gadgets. Okay, most readers of this blog are people who love traveling with gadgets.

Yet hardly anyone has all five (or even one) of the cool gift suggestions reviewed below, gifts designed to help tech-loving travelers watch, hear, power and organize their gadgetry better. Our selections each range from $9 to $299 and come with a WOW factor!

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Every time Apple announces an upcoming iPhone, the first post on Spot Cool Stuff’s tech blog is written especially with current iPhone owners. And it centers around a single question:

Should you upgrade to the new iPhone?

Today, we are answering that question twice. That’s because, for the first time, Apple announced two new iPhone models: The iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s.

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Spot Cool Stuff recently moved into a farmhouse. It’s a lovely place, built in the 1780s, but there’s something about the layout or the construction materials used or the ghosts of past generations who lived here or we-know-not-what that prevents a wireless internet signal from traveling through the house well. What’s a four-bar wifi signal in the home office is reduced to one bar most anywhere else downstairs. Upstairs there’s no signal at all.

So we asked our Tech Editor to propose a solution. The one he came up with: the Western Digital My Net Wifi Range Extender.

It seemed too good to be true, if only because the paperback-sized device costs a mere $35 with the current Amazon discount (versus the $75 retail price). Here’s what we found when we gave it a try:

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Those readers among you who are of a certain age will remember when a Blackberry was the smartphone to have. Of those, most probably owned a Blackberry. And of those, most probably miss the Blackberry keyboard. It was a real keyboard, not a virtual one, with click-y, tactile, pleasant-to-use keys.

In an effort to recreate a quality keyboard experience for iPhone users, several case manufacturers have found ways to incorporate a keyboard into their products. Most of those offer a rather suboptimal experience. Some are downright dreadful. But a few work quite while. Of those Spot Cool Stuff tried, two stand out especially: the Nuu MiniKey and the Spike SoloMatrix. Our review of both . . .

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All-in-one printers — printers that can scan, copy, fax and and produce photos in addition to, you know, printing out black and white text on a sheet of paper — are useful for multitasking. But they also tend not to perform any one function that well. And they occupy a huge amount of desk space.

The later drawback is what drew our attention to the Epson Expression Premium XP-800 multi-function printer. At 15.4 by 13.3 by 7.5 inches (390 x 340 x 190mm for those metrically-inclined), we wouldn’t exactly call this printer compact. But it is less space hogging than it’s competitors. And it looks pretty cool too.

So how does the XP-800 compare in terms of quality? Spot Cool Stuff take a look:

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If you are a cook and a gadget lover then chances are high that you’ve used your tablet computer in the kitchen. Tablets make outstanding kitchen companions. They can serve up nearly limitless recipes, cooking tips, instructional videos, background music and means for digitally sharing your culinary creations with the world, all in a device that’s significantly smaller and lighter than your typical cookbook.

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Most of the places and products reviewed on Spot Cool Stuff have something noteworthy about them that’s visible. But in the case of the Sony RX100 digital camera, the WOW factor is on the inside — the sensor.

A huge 20.2MP Exmor 1-inch CMOS sensor, to be specific. It measures 13.2mm by 8.8mm, giving the RX100 sensor about four times the surface area the ones you’d find in a typical point-and-shoot. So large and robust is the sensor, that some reviewers have declared the Sony RX100 to be like “an SLR you can keep in your pocket.”

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