RAW in iPhoto vs Aperature

Hi,
I am a newbie to using RAW (new Olympus e520) and use iPhoto 09 in OS 10.5.6. I generally like my pictures from iPhoto (after I tweek them a bit) but am contemplating Aperture. Indeed I like the results I get from iPhoto better than what I can get using the latest Adobe RAW (via Elements 6) even though it has a nice interface. The iPhoto renderings seem just a bit better to me.
My question is: is the RAW rendering afforded by Aperture significantly different/better than that in iPhoto? I.e., is the RAW rendering a function of the OS or the specific program? In the Mac world this is not so clear. I'd download the Aperture trial but I tried Aperture some time ago (in the v 1.0 age) and did not like it. So I cannot now use a trial of the new version, alas.
Pardon if this has been discussed before but I could not see it.
I enjoy learning from these boards, thanks in advance.
Tom

First of all congratulations on purchasing an Olympus E520. You will simply love the Olympus DSLR cameras. I have a been a long time user Aperture and the new version Aperture 2.2 is simply superior to the initial version of Aperture. I shoot everything in RAW, and I find the ability to work with the photo's in a non-destructive format, amazing. You can't underestimate the value of not impacting your original RAW image. After all, that is why you shoot in RAW in the first place.
I have found the interface much easier in Aperture 2.2 and it is really worth the money. I have just purchased an Olympus E-30 so I am still awaiting for a RAW format capability for Aperture.
I understand your concerns about the previous version of Aperture, but one of the best features is that you can store your Aperture library and therefore referenced pictures on an external drive. This was not available in version 1.1.
For my money, Aperture is head-and-shoulders above everything else, and I have tried them all, Adobe Element, Olympus Studio, Capture One, and several others.
Cheers,

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Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
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Regards
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Hi Msedaka,
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Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
You might want to Google on RAW. There’s a wealth of learning to be done on the subject. Here’s a pencil sketch.
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