the autocad rendition above is taken from my preliminary drawings that I had made to give to the designer. I am not an expert. A long story, but the original designer was a guy my first builder recommended but turned out to be a costly mistake. He was in the middle of a divorce, strung out on anti-depressants, and did not complete the project. He also was not a CAD user. What a mistake. Needless to say, I deep-sixed this contractor and unfortunately learned an expensive lesson. I then started the project with another designer who finalized my plans similar to the last autocad design, but he used a different program, chief architect. I don't have that program, so I only posted changing the windows from my old autocad program. That is why the proportions and things don't look right. I do have a PDF file of the entire plans but I dont know how to convert them to either post, or email. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the insights. thanks again.

Thanks to you both for replying. I'm in central california, inland if that's of any help. Eta* are there any vinyl companies worth looking into where black would be offered as an interior color option? I've only come across black as exterior option .

Buy the Marvin, just don't over pay as some Infinity dealers charge WAY too much.

At the end of the day, you should first start with what you want the windows to look and feel like. Aesthetics a critical to what you will be looking at for years to come. Next, the facts of the window performance should come into play. That being said, ideas like fiberglass being superior because of expansion rates is overstated and really used heavily on the marketing side of the equation.