I am also a newbie. I bought an '04 Specialized Allez Elite in February. I have a few hundred miles on it and so far I've been really happy with it. I agree with the above comments about fit being very important.
A few things I have learned: (1) real road bikes only have double chainrings, not triple, (2) the whole compact geometry thing is for the benefit of the bike mfg and LBS so they don't have to carry as many frame sizes, (3) you pay a lot of $$$ for very small increases in quality, lower weight and speed, (4) a new road bike, regardless of its exact components and design is very very fast as compared to older road bikes, hybrids and mtn bikes.