New Construction - Lake Front, lot's of south facing windows. Combination of fixed glass, double hung, french doors with side lights or large (multi panel) sliders.

Trying like h@ll to pick windows and my time is running out.

On my current house with similar requirements, I have Peachtree (700 series I think) aluminum widows with stain grade wood on the inside. Really like these windows. Easy to open, after 19 years, insulated glass is still fine. The ONLY bad thing about these windows is the Anodizing on the window exterior has oxidized over the years and does not look that good (and it does not look like you can do much about that).

Builder likes Windsor (value for the money), but their website says not to paint them a dark color if they recieve a lot sun to avoid warping. We would like dark windows and the will receive a LOT of sun.

Looked at Marvins (very nice looking product). Unbelievable amount of complaints on these. Same thing with Pella and Andersen. Lots of these complaint posts are old.

Cladding of wood just doesn't seem like a great idea to me (how do you know if you have a problem under the cladding?)

I want easy opening windows, maintainable windows (don't mind keeping them up) and a reasonable warranty.

Any recent experience advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.