Most fence conversations in the High Desert come down to the same two materials: wood or vinyl. Both can look great, both can last, and both fail early when they're installed without respect for the wind and sun up here. The right answer depends on how much upkeep you're willing to do and how you want the yard to look in ten years.
Wood wins on warmth and repairability. A cedar or redwood privacy fence looks like it belongs on a desert lot, and if a board splits or a dog chews a picket, you replace one piece instead of a whole panel. The trade-off is maintenance: at 3,000 to 4,000 feet, UV bleaches an unsealed fence gray in a single summer, and a stain or sealer every two to three years is the price of keeping it looking new.
Vinyl wins on zero upkeep. A UV-stabilized vinyl fence doesn't need paint, stain, or sealer, it rinses clean with a hose, and it won't rot where the sprinklers hit it. What it needs is a proper install: posts set in concrete, reinforcement where the manufacturer calls for it, and panels cut to follow the slope instead of leaving gaps. A vinyl fence that racks or bows is almost always a post problem, not a material problem.
Our honest recommendation: if you like the look of wood and don't mind a weekend with a sprayer every few years, go wood. If you want to install it and forget it, go vinyl. Either way, the posts are where the money should go, and that's the part we don't cut corners on.