Help me please!! Marlin vs. Rockhopper vs. Yukon

Ok I'm looking for a beginner MTB for everything from Popping wheelies downtown to riding trails. My Max price is $500. I've been looking at the Gary Fisher Marlin, the Specialized Rockhopper and Giant Yukon (All 2004 models). The are all around the same price $450 so thats not a factor. I really like the geometry of all three and I rode them all around the parking lot about 20 times....I bet they loved me. I don't know what good compents are so I couldn't tell the diff. I'm leaning towards the Giant Yukon because it has disc brakes the one thing the others don't have. But I have read that the drive train sucks in the Yukon and so does the front fork/susp. The Marlin and Rockhopper have the Manitou Six and the Yukon has the SR/Suntour XC60 (Whatever that is) I honestly don't know much so please give me your input if you will.......Since I'm a newbies will I notice the diff. between the shocks? Or are the Haynes Disc brakes even worth a damn on the Yukon......I'm 6'2 200lbs btw if it matters. Oh yea and I might have a chance to buy a used Kona Kahuna.....its a 1998 model but its in pretty good shape...but its old so I don't know if the new stuff would be better or not.

Thanks everyone!!

Honestly I think you'll be happy with any of them as they are going to be spec-d very similarly. The hayes mechanicals kinda suck (I think slightly higher level specialized come with Avids which are excellent)
For personal experience, I have owned a Yukon since 2000 and it was an excellent bike untill I really started being rough on it.

the Gary Fisher Marlin is a great bike, but make sure you don't get one with an acera crank.
i test rode one at the store, and it had the bontrager sport, and i loved the bike. Then i had the store order one for me (the one i rode had been bought by someone else) and it came with a Shimano Acera Crank. yuck. It didn't last long at all, and i hear the bontragers are pretty durable.
I'm sure my acera was just a factory mix-up though. I'd recommend the Gary Fisher. Once I replaced the crank on it, it was perfect.
Go give 'em a ride

first of all, i'd stay away from the bike with the suntour fork. the manitou is gonna be much better. you don't really need disc brakes unless you are concerned with riding in bad weather conditions or if you ride trails mostly. the rockhopper is a very nice bike, and it might be my first choice. as far as what was said about the bontrager cranks, my friend just had to replace a crank arm on his gary fisher because the bontrager arm gradually stripped out and became very loose. that might have been a 1 time case, but they were pretty new cranks.