So, I'm new to mountain biking and haven't had a bike since I outgrew my Rockhopper many years ago. I'm looking into a new bike and am going to trail ride in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Having been out of the loop for so long, I'm a bit ignorant to the components and what I need/don't need on this bike. I'm not really looking to break the bank and won't go higher than $800 msrp (which I can get at least 10% off of). I was looking at the Gary Fisher Marlin GS which has v brakes, but after searching through dozens of threads here, I'm confused about whether or not getting disc brakes is worth it. The Marlin disc is only $90 more. Some say disc brakes are worth it (my co-worker just advised that they're a must have), while others say that on any bike under $2000 the disc brakes aren't going to be any good anyways. So, in seeing that most disc brake upgrades are about $100, for my purposes, would the additional cash be well spent on disc brakes or should I just stick with the v brakes? Thanks for any input.

Any thoughts on the GF Marlin would be appreciated as well.