Out of those options I would personally suggest the Trek. The bike in question is a good bike for the price and it should last pretty long. I don't have too much experience with the other ones you suggested so I can't really comment on those. I have known a few people that had 3500's and they seemed to enjoy them. Along with MichaelW I must agree that if he's going to be riding on pavement most of the time it is a good idea to ditch the knobbies and go for a more street based tire. Bontrager has a nice inbetween tire that any Trek dealer would carry. It's still a 2" wide tire and keeps the bike looking like a mountain bike but the middle of it is smooth with traction on the sides. I have a set of Bontrager mountain tires, the "in betweener" tires they have and some Specialized slicks that I use on my Trek MTB and I find the most use out of the Bontragers with a little bit of tread. Expect to spend $15-20 per tire for these.
Best of luck.