Sam Goh, Most dealers would be happy to sell to you even if they are hours away. But how much are you saving for that hassle? The local dealer is less likely to help you out with any problems if you left the area to make your purchase. That one small change you want to make after the fact might be $200 from your local dealer, but $800 if the other dealer has to make the drive to you. Same with Home Depot-do you think HD is going to help you at all if you need help later? If it's an appliance that will wear out in 5 yr anyway, that's one thing. When it's a part of your house that will be there for decades, I'd be glad to pay even a few thousand more from a reputable dealer that will be there for the minor problems. If you have ~60 windows, just keep in mind that it will be exponentially more expensive for you if you have to change them all out in 5-10 yr because they're junk... Just my $0.02, hope you can find a good solution that works well for you.

We just did the entire window thing... You have valid reasone for sticking with the 100s, however I'd take a look at upgrading to the SmartSun option for your south and west windows (we're in OK, so I have a feeling for your sun). You really might want to get the window specs and go to Lowes (at the contractor desk) and ask about a whole house quote through their corporate Quote Support Program (QSP) for Pella Proline 450s. We got 4 custom 3 x 4.5', six 3 x 4.5', two huge flanked combos, one 3 x 3 kitchen casement, two hinged 6 x 6 patios, two 36" entry doors and one double sidelight entry door, plus storm doors for the three - for right arouond $17K. They are all painted inside, with vividview screening, the optional UV glass and extended jambs. Well worth the small effort.

I think the question is whether or not the 400 has any advantages over the 100 if you base it on where they fall in the Andersen line up. The 100 series is a "Fibrex" material which is ultimately a combination of vinyl resins and recycled wood. It will not stain like a 400 series with a wood interior so if that is a requirement, you are married to the 400.

I did mix them all throughout the house (my window style is a cottage 4-over-1 grid with both interior and exterior grids), and after all my fretting, no one would ever be able to tell from the inside or outside! (I even have to look and try to remember whether some of the casements are 100s or 400s.) If it weren't for needing some very specific sizes (and wood grids to stain in our den), I would do all 100's because I cannot tell the difference in terms of operation/quality on the casements and you can barely discern the difference in terms of looks. And even in rooms where I chose the 400 series because I wanted to have double-hung windows, I wouldn't do it again....as appealing as the notion of being able to open the upper or lower sash was, what I've found in day-to-day living is that I only ever open the bottom sash, so I would've been just fine with simply doing single-hungs! Overall I'm satisfied with my Anderson windows, but I like my friend's Marvin Integrity windows better than mine--hers operate better and just have more of a "quality" look (mine still look fine.....I was actually going to do Integrity originally, but they did a price-hike during construction, and I just couldn't justify the extra $15-20K). I will say, however, that my Anderson 100 sliding windows that I did in the basement are ATROCIOUS in every way. Incredibly difficult to lock (you have to slam the window shut in order for the locking mechanism to "catch"--I far prefer the manual latches I had on my previous sliders), don't slide open very smoothly, let dirt in (we live in a very windy climate but still I've never seen so much fine dirt piled up on a window ceil!), super cheap--the lock plates have snapped or broken off over half of them in just the first year (and we almost never even use them). Needless to say, the inexpensive vinyl sliders we had in the basement of our last house were far superior.