I started riding(commuting) in early 2010 with a Specialized Sirrus I bought a couple years before that, a few weeks later I bought a new road bike.
Something similar to what you are looking at. I went for the Bikes Direct Motobecane Immortal Ice, full Ultegra group set with Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels(I would reccomend an upgrade here). I noticed a huge performance gain and if I were to ride my Specialized now I would probably hate it.

I now commute on my full CF bike and have 2800 mile on it with no issues. I do some of my own maintenance but for the bigger stuff I take it in.

I am no expert on bikes but when I first got on my new bike it almost came out from under me as I took my first couple of cranks on it.
It will help you to not get dropped as often but it will happen if you are not in bike condition. If you can commute, I would recommend doing it as much as possible.

Personally I saw a 2MPH average gain in my speed. But I have slowly been becoming faster the longer I ride.