It's hard to judge the appearance of something you can't see and I've never seen the vinyl siding version of dropped/novelty/dutch siding but I would imagine that beveled (clapboard) vinyl siding would be less interesting and distinctive especially with shakes.

Thanks. The beveled siding is Dutchlap.
http://www.certainteed.com/products/vinyl-siding/310062

Here is a link that might be useful: Dutchlap siding

"The beveled siding is Dutchlap"

Well, that's certainly confusing.
Real wood clapboard is called "beveled" siding because it is taper-sawn to be wedge-shaped (like shingles) and that term distinguishes it from "lap" (or drop) siding which sits flat against the sheathing and only overlaps because it has a some kind of continuous notch to allow an overlap. There are seemingly unlimited variations for the design of the lap grooves.

"Dutch" lap siding is lap siding with a continuous curved scoop below the lap notch and is quite different from beveled or clapboard siding. Dutch lap siding was called "novelty" lap siding until it became so popular.

Manufacturers of imitative siding will use whatever name they think will sell more of their product and, of course, none of their products actually has the same profile as what they attempt to imitate. But it is still best to stick with the well established terms in a discussion.

Unless a house is very formal and of a Colonial, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, etc. style I like the drop siding better but I haven't seen the house so I should not be advising you. My old boss often warned to never "design in a vacuum" and this would be "designing blind".

Here is a link that might be useful: real novelty lap siding

Perhaps because real wooden "german siding" (as it's called here) was very prevalent in the old days, the vinyl version is also used quite a bit. I have not only seen it on many houses, but installed a little some years back on a remodeling job.
I'd say it accounts for 50% of vinyl in my area.
It's no better or worse than double 5 or whichever. It looks a bit different is all; the quality of the job is more dependent on the installer than the material.
Casey