txtig, in Texas, the vinyl window color choices are white, white, and off-white. OK, there is a very very light gray, also. Vinyl and our hot sun here are not a natural match, so the "colors" available here are far from anything dark, so they don't soften and droop/warp.
In my extended neighborhood, where the houses there are 10 - 15 years older than mine, just about every one of them has had a recent window replacement with vinyl. White. They look like crap. With the colors of the brick and style of the houses, to me, the white vinyl screams "cheap! cheap!" The original windows were thin aluminum with dark frames, and the dark colors (usually bronze) went very well with the design of the house. Not so the white vinyl!
I went with locally-made heavy-duty aluminum with thermal breaks, in bronze. They look very nice and are like commercial windows with wider frames. No glazing bead on the outside, so no plastic strip to degrade with age in our strong sun. They would not meet the energy efficiency standards in a northern climate, which is a don't-care for me.
About 6 years ago or so, it averaged out to be ~$500 per window with low-e glass and muntin bars. A few of our windows are 8 feet tall, and some 7 footers too. All are single-hung. Lower sash can tilt in for cleaning, and screen removal. Screen removes only from the inside.
The windows were sold as replacement units, to use them as new construction requires the purchase and cutting to length on-site of the aluminum fin stock which slides into the frame extrusions to give a nailing/screwing fin. The independent installers did an OK job on installing them as replacement windows in the brick. But even though they told me they knew how to do new construction work, they obviously didn't. I was replacing the siding and foam sheathing on the areas with siding, and I had to teach them how to install them there properly. I could not step away, or they would screw it up, and I would make them take the window off again. One-trick ponies!
If I had to do it all over again, I would make the same choice. The manufacturer only sells to dealers, otherwise I would have ordered them up, and done all the work myself, which is my preference.
I have seen fiberglass-framed windows, they were just coming out when I was looking. They are available in colors, and I would think much superior (and more expensive, naturally) than vinyl. I wonder how they would hold up under our monster hail. My new windows did fine, zero damage, not even a little dent.
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