If you drive then it is at 2 o'clock preferably.
If it is a drive, then swing forward.
If it is a loop against bakspin ball, then it is upwards.
To make it easy for you to remember; drive is use to counter / return topspin ball, whereas loop is used for backspin or downspin ball.
Moving on to your question on whether to hit the ball at the highest position / top of the bounce or wait for it to drop lower.
There are different school of thoughts. Some are proponent of hit at the highest or top of the bounce. This is what modern professionals women players are doing. Miu Hirano, Mima Ito & Hina Hayata are the classic example of top of the bounce hitter. Look up their matches on Youtube and you can see for yourself. On the men side, it is Harimoto & Liang Jingkun. The pros of this tactic is of course you return fast and catch your opponent of guard. The cons is you have to move very fast and it is high risk high rewards style.
On the other side of the story, there are those who loop back at a lower position. These players tend to play more spinny shots. Xu Xin is one classic example of taking the ball at a lower position, but take note of how super spinny his returns are. Jun Mizutani is another exmaple. These players tend to play a little further away from the table compared to cllose to table hitters like Harimoto or Liang Jingkun.
Hence your question whether to play at lower position or at the top of bounce; it depends on what style do you want to follow. Both have its pros and cons.
If you are new to the game, do not be quick to want to be in one or the other category yet. Take your time to develop your own game. You will naturally fall into one or the other category. No rush, my friend.