WiFi range extender with best reception

Burying a wire is not possible. A wireless bridge still requires the same answer to my initial question - how do I know if the reception capability is good enough? How do I know if one bridge has better reception capabilities than another? The houses are about 100 ft apart. Antennas will not be good because the dwellings have steel roofs.

All very interesting, but I'm afraid it's simply not answering my question.

If I were asking about boots with the thickest sole, I'm getting answers about why I shouldn't wear boots or information on sandals and snowshoes.

I'll bring this back on topic:

I have two properties. They are separated by water. They are about 100 ft apart.

In the dwelling that doesn't have the WiFi router here is the following reception details from a device perspective:
iPod 4 - no reception
iPod 5 - some reception in a specific location of the kitchen
iPad mini - ditto
iPad - ditto
iPhone 5 - no reception
Toshiba laptop from early 2000s era that's cracked and missing keys - great reception almost anywhere
New Toshiba laptop - no reception
Dell laptop from my work - some reception
Wii U - no reception
Wii - good reception from almost any location

And no, I haven't just tried this once for each device. This has been proven consistent over a period of 5 years (with the obvious exception of the newer devices that haven't existed this long).

So clearly there is some factor that varies among these devices with respect to signal receptivity. I just want to know what it is!

I'd like to read the boxes and pick the make/model that has the most "zizoflenjiks" of signal receptibility.

I live out in the country. The nearest hardware store is over 60 miles from me. I don't want to go buy something and then have to drive all the way back to return it, or worse to purchase online and then deal with the postage hassles of returning it and eating the delivery costs.

I don't need to define what "good enough" is. Clearly some devices can receive the signal with ease, and others can't. So I know signal reception is entirely feasible depending on the device. And for the devices that receive well, like the Wii, I can watch Netflix with good quality.

So how do I know which device will receive well? And I don't care if it's a wireless bridge or booster or whatever. God-willing I'm going to use SOMETHING to receive the WiFi signal and retransmit it. I just want to ensure I purchase the most powerful one with respect to signal reception.

If it's as simple as the one with the biggest freaking antenna, please just say so.

If you don't know, don't try to answer the question like a presidential candidate dealing with a foreign policy question. Just say you don't know. I'm cool with people not knowing, since I don't know either. But I'm hoping someone on this site DOES know.