My take on this subject:
Bent (or C&T) beams are without a doubt your best option if you like to play at high speed (jumping, blasting through the desert, etc.) and have little interest in slow-speed crawling. Like said above, you'll have much more clearance, especially during those moments the suspension fully compresses while launching/landing (no big brackets sticking down).
WHere there's a disadvantage though is with the increased jacking effect due to the beam pivots being up higher within the chassis. In slow-speed offcamber situations (especially if steeply climbing uphill), this makes the truck feel more unstable than if you had stock (geometry) beams.
Additionally, it puts some additional strain on the axle u-joints and/or the center slip-spline. If the u-joints are at a constant angle (the center one in particular), you may notice a small lurching or shaking effect while in 4WD under light throttle (desert guys typically run it in 2WD (using 4WD only in situations that require it) and normally wouldn't notice this).
Lastly, not all drop brackets are created equal! Though many are weak, some (such as Skyjacker or James Duff) are actually strongER than the stock OE brackets (this because they also greatly widen the footprint where it's attached to the frame). Because of this it would not be accurate to say a C&T lift is stronger than a bracket lift, it's all going to matter on the individual parts used.
Not even a SJ or JD bracket is likely to survive an object strike at high speed though, so this does take you back to the C&T'ed beams again if that's how you like to play.
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