Sounds good as long as I am not prevented from putting my laptop bag in overhead.

I check my roller bag...I could carry it on board, it's a medium size bag, but I don't want the hassle of fighting over space up top for 2 bags and I want to preserve my foot well (I am a tall dude).

So, I inconvenience myself and check my bag (meaning I have to wait at luggage claim) in order to take-up a smaller overhead area (laptop bag rather than a roller bag), in order to preserve my foot well.

If I have to use my foot well in every case, I will certainly begin bringing my roller bag on board...there is no advantage to checking it.

I should not have my foot well taken away so that someone else has room for their BIG bag. It makes no sense to say that we both paid 500 bucks for a ticket, but that they have an inherent right to use more space in overhead for the same price and I should suffer for it.