The Acer Nitro 5, with its AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and RTX 3070 graphics, outperforms gaming laptops that cost hundreds more. Its QHD 1440p display is a nice bonus, too.

The cheapest Nitro 5 combines an Intel Core i5 processor with Nvidia's aged GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. Our $1,099.99 test unit (model AN515-57-74TT) heats things up with an eight-core, 2.3GHz Core i7 ...