Right now I have the Grizzly G0758

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill/G0758

It's a good machine, but what I REALLY hate is the 9" or less Z axis. It meant I had to be extremely careful about drill bit/end mill length, vise height, etc. because if you used a real mill vise, you will not be able to machine much at all.

I really want something with more Z axis so I don't have this problem (X axis is not as important). Only reason I got this machine is because of its weight (I live on the third floor, no elevators)

I'm looking at this

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704

It's really the same thing except it has greater X and Y axis range, and it has 13" Z axis range (at least 4" more than my current machine, doesn't sound like much but it will when you got vise, tooling, etc.) and it weights 100lb more than my current machine (it said 400lb shipping weight because it includes a stand)

But also this:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mill-Drill/G0463

It has a slightly less powerful motor, greater Z axis range, and it's also heavier (it does not have a stand)

Do you really think both of those machines will be a significant upgrade than the one I have now? Please don't mention Bridgeport, because it will not fit in my apartment, not to mention it's also around 1500 dollars in piss poor condition (rusted table, ways, leadscrew, etc.) meaning by the time I get it up and running I could buy an import knee mill that don't have rusted ways, tables, leadscrew and who knows what.

I kinda wanted a lathe but I don't know if I should use the money to buy a lathe instead of upgrading my mill (and selling the old one). I haven't really found a real need to turn anything big, and for something small I made it work by clamping a rod in the chuck and clamping a tool bit in the vise.

The 0704 is very well thought of on CNC Zone.  One guy has a two part thread about 550 pages plus on his CNC conversion.  There are a lot of guys on this board who know machines, and are working with this mill.

Check out this forum:  http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop-machines/

I will buy a 704 with the DRO package in a month or so to replace my 2700 lb Bridgeport.

I'm pretty happy with the one I have only I wished the Z axis were bigger... I mean it's a good machine, if you want to replace the X2 type mills (it's significantly stiffer)

The other one I am looking at looks like it's stiffer than the 704.

Is DRO package worth it? I've been working with mine without DRO and I can't say it's a huge disadvantage to not have one, especially when it's a lot cheaper.

You mean maximum spindle height.

Z axis usually refers to the amount of travel you can get in the Z direction.

On such a small machine it wouldn't really matter... I mean unless it's a really big machine the Z axis should be the same (or smaller) than the max spindle height. But yea 8.5" is not a lot of room when you have a vise, tooling, and possibly rotary table.