You can definitely use SQL Server merge replication via IIS. I do this with my clients right now and it works great. I think you're mixing your terms up though, causing more confusion than is necessary. There is no reason to think of the laptops as 'publishers', at least not in SQL terms. They can still be subscribers, but if you use merge replication, then that means the laptops will send data both ways (take data from the server, and send data to the server). My situation is to have a SQL server on our IIS server (or you can separate those servers for a more secure enviro), and synchronize through RMO to the laptops to a WPF application of mine. These laptops don't need IIS or SQL server installed on them, you can replicate to a SQL Compact database easily using RMO.
Additionally you can look into using WCF, microsoft synchronization services. But that requires more work i think, and i have less experience there.