Kodak DX7590

Hi

I am planning to buy my first digital camera.Am looking for a 5 Mega
pixel camera with a good zoom[ bet 8x and 12x] I read a lot of
reviews and have Kodak DX 7590 and Konica Minolta Z5 in mind. The
Panasonic FZ series is also around, but somehow am nt very much for
panasonic now. Both are comparable in price also

Am looking for good quality pictures, not too particular about night
shots. I am looking for printing and blowing up these pictures too.
Keeping all these in mind, have the following questions

All the reviews state that KM Z5 does not produce excellent pictures.
They claim the images being soft and colors being fairly accurate

The Kodak seemed to have beter picture quality compared to KM Z5 and
produces good colors and great looking photos.

Is the above really true from anyones experience?

The only dept. in KM Z5 which is tempting is the image stabilization
and the AA batteries.

Overall, am leaning towards Kodak. Is this a good choice?

--thx a lot in advance
Prasad