The drives I have at the moment have full steps on them...so I don't know any different in that regard. They have full, 1/2, 1/4 & 1/8 - so it looks like I should just use 1/8 step & forget about it.

I hadn't considered the torque side of things.
If my intention is to mainly cut wood/mdf & then aluminium plate/sheet occasionally....given that i'll be stuck on a low voltage (24v) for a while before being able to upgrade the driver/psu combo do you think that a ratio in between might be a better option? So I don't sacrifice too much speed, but still get a torque boost.