Thanks for the tips.  I've looked over your suggestions, and I think I'm gonna go with a newer version of the Acer Nitro 5 that has a 1 TB SSD plus an additional 1 TB HDD.  It's a bit more expensive than the ones you mentioned, but I have enough money in my savings account to justify the expenditure, I think.  Once it shows up and I've seen how it works, maybe I'll post here again and let you know what I think, but for now, thank you for the help.