RAW is an uncompressed file which is filled with lots more information where as JPEG is a processed and compressed file with a lot of information but not as much as a RAW. You still have to get the exposure right as you make the photo but with RAW, if you have some highlights that are too bright, you can pull detail out of an area that seems to be void of detail up to about 3 stops. Same with shadows but only about 2 stops. I like to have the control over the image and the processing vs. the folks that just write the software that processes in camera. Either one is fine but you will notice substantially more "punch" in a photo that is processed from RAW.
