honourbal,
I am sorry to say I know little of the apartment buildings you are asking about. You would be better of talking to Pitt students who are NOT locals, as I am currently commuting in from my family home and have not had to research housing.
What I can tell you from browsing Meyers Management site is that the four apartment complexes you mention are located in Shadyside. Its a neighboring area to Oakland, where Pitt is located. Shadyside is historically home to many of Pittsburgh's steel magnates, and is currently a mix of upper-middle class families, young professional types, and grad students. The major business streets in Shadyside are Walnut Street (upscale dining and boutiques), S. Highland Avenue and Ellsworth Avenue (both less expensive than Walnut). All these streets are pretty close to one another, so if you are anywhere near those streets, access to shopping should not be an issue. And all the apartment buildings you mentioned say they are on the bus line. From Shadyside, a bus ride into Oakland takes 15 minutes at most.
As iamjacksgoat said, Squirrel Hill is quite nice too. It also borders Oakland (as well as Shadyside) and the business district there is located along Forbes and Murray. Again, its a very nice middle class neighborhood, known historically as the home of Pittsburgh's Jewish community, and is also located with a 15 minute bus ride of Pitt. Both it and Shadyside are far nicer than other places students live in like South Oakland, which while very close to campus is essentially a student ghetto, and South Side, which is more crowded and dirty and home to Pittsburgh's major center of nightlife in Carson Street (and all the loud drunks that brings with it).