Hi Westerdaled,
From my experience, you do not need to disable W3Total Cache when updating post or updating your plugins.
There are issues I discovered: sometimes when you update your site, either the plugins, worked on the files ( e.g. 404.php. single.php)and after saving and logging out. the effect may not reflect, in such case, just deactivate all the plugins, clear the cache ( in your browser, log out, log in again, activate the plugins back). Now, the issue here is that all the plugins will become activated except W3Total Cache, simply activate the W3Total Cache again.
To know, if it is giving you problem, use google page speed tool, if the preview did not come out exactly like what you have, then the W3Total Cache is giving problem.
Check out my website for details and issues: http://www.ditailz.com