Basical postprocessing involves fiddling with the color temperature,chromatic aberration removal,sharpening,exposure asjustments.
The raw file is better than the jpeg because it can store much more stuff.
8 bits vs 12 bits means that a burnt sky may be recovered from the raw whereas it couldn't be done the same from the jpeg.
It doesn't mean you have to go nuts
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,altough you can if you want.
A jpeg is already being processed by the camera so it looks appealing and cool but to obtain much more control over different parameters raw is the right choice
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Am i clear?
Just do the simple things,check the hystogram first as it can't lie to you like a non-calibrated monitor can.Adjust the exposure,fiddle with the black point,the shadows,get rid of that hazy look by touching the contrast bar.
Then zoom to 100% and try to eliminate CA and make your pic sharper(if required)with the sharpness command(whatever its called).
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You see,maybe sometimes the jpeg is more than enough to get yourserlf a good picture for your showoff.Sometimes,when things get tough,raw kicks in and gives you that extra room to work with.