Not everyone's commute is the same and for OP a road bike might work fine. I commute in socal where there is no need for fenders, I carry small amounts and use a backpack or carry nothing at all some days. I commute on my CAAD9 with no problem. I have had so called commuter bikes in the past that were heavy, had wide heavy tires and rack and panier and personally I prefer to ride fast whether I'm commuting or riding for recreation so I've gotten rid of my other bikes and have my CAAD road race bike and a 80's steel road race bike and that's all I need. I commute on 700x23 tires on one and 700x25 on the other. I commute 5 days a week by bike and put in over 100 miles a week on average and my bikes are perfectly comfortable and I have not had an on road flat in 2 years (knock on wood).
To answer OP question. Test ride bikes. Get the one that makes you happy. For a road bike in your price range I would get full 105 groupset at minimum (although I'm a SRAM guy so I would recommend that but it's a preference). Road bikes will limit tire width but there are plenty of great tires in 23 and 25. Any of those bikes should come with decent tires so ride them till they wear out unless you are getting lots of flats from road debris and then you may look at something with more puncture resistance. Aluminum bikes are fine but I would get one with a carbon fork (which should be any of the ones you mention). Steel bikes are also a worthy option but fewer steel road bike readily available.