You've pretty much summed up nicely in your question, but I thought I'd answer anyway. We've played three different ways with different groups of people. Usually we play the original rules - that is tiles must be drawn at the start of a turn. This works well with smaller groups of players who don't insist on studying all the options. With a large group of friends we have played that players are allowed to pre-draw and discuss. This leads to faster play and advice based on tiles that are seen early.
