Where are you in Texas? Fiberglass is not technically out. Marvin does not make a 1/2 round in fiberglass but they do make on in wood. You can check with other fiberglass manufacturers that may or may not make the half round in fiberglass. Thermally broken aluminum is a very good option for Texas and has a proven track record. Don Young makes a pretty good aluminum product in Texas. RBA is a "pretty" window but offers no material performance advantage over fiberglass, vinyl, aluminum, or wood for that matter. The RBA window performance is average, at best, and their warranty is below average when compared to the better brands out there. Vinyl is still a very good option for your climate if it is good vinyl. The websites that are hosted by Renewal that talk about vinyl chipping, warping, fading, etc are pure bunk. Regardless of material, you can find good and bad in each material. Take a quick survey of the board and you will find people with horror stories about wood, vinyl, fiberglass, aluminum, RBA, etc.

I think it is fine the lites are slightly larger, given that the window is larger. I think, seeing the whole front of the house, you might consider taking out about 20 feet of the current driveway, and plant that area, and building a low brick wall to give a horizontal emphasis at end of driveway as reconfigured, with a planter in front of it to signal start of the sidewalk to the front door. Maybe put a house number on the wall, and some low voltage uplights. Good luck!

@judy it's my first time dealing with house construction and design, what can i say.. @sophie what's wrong with it? I live in Asia, we get a good amount of light from the west in the afternoon. Also, there are at least 2 swing windows on each side of the house except where the patio door is.

The finger joints frequently telegraph through the paint and become visible in a year or five. It probably depends somewhat on just how evenly the wood was dried prior to fabrication, but also on small variation in seasonal movement from piece to piece of wood from different trees. The former can be solved by acclimating the wood to the house and sanding it even prior to finishing, the latter can't. Something to bear in mind-- if that's going to bother you, upgrading to poplar will solve the problem.