The originals have smaller wheel bearings than the various options yes? This would be a factor (opinion) in wheel bearing life esp with more serious rubber than the stock wheel/tyre setups.

The strut inserts being smaller would mean that they'd tend to run hotter, and perhaps not perform as consistently, if driven on the edge in a highly developed car, but I don't know that that would be such a big deal on almost any streeter (the selection of strut inserts available in the larger size, and potentially adjustable ones too would also be a factor).

One of the advantages of teh early struts is the early steering knuckle gives more steering angle (less play - or at least it will feel like it has less) and more responsive steering. Of course, you can always get the early steering knuckles and machine the 2 bolt holes to suit the wider bolt spacing of the later bigger struts, and ream out the tapered hole (where the ball joint fits in the centre) since the ball joint pin is larger on later model control arm/ball joints, that usually go hand in hand with later struts, swapped in as a set.