Being able to shoot RAW makes even the cheapest Powershot models so much more capable.
That's a bit of an ongoing debate around here. Sure, it's RAW but so far nobody has posted a RAW that looks better (with post processing) than the corresponding jpg. Not that you are not welcome to try.
I'm not trying to say that the RAW image is "better" than the in-camera JPEG, I just prefer RAW because it gives me a better chance to correct exposure and white-balance problems thanks to the greater bit depth. I mainly use this greater bit depth to salvage photos with dynamic range problems. I have a better chance of pulling out details hidden in deep shadows and bright highlights. For example, I shoot a fill-flash photo of someone wearing a white T-shirt, outdoors under a tree canopy and surrounded by dark green shrubbery. Processing the RAW image in ACR, I can suppress the white T-shirt and pull put details like wrinkles in the fabric that would be blown out and invisible in the JPEG, and also boost the dark greens and browns in the shadows of the background shrubbery that would have been clipped to black in the JPEG. I'm sold on CHDK - it has let me get acceptable single-exposure photos with my old A-720IS in difficult lighting that would require multiple-exposure HDR techniques otherwise.
Should I just go ahead and buy the ELPH 340? I suppose I could try porting CHDK to it myself. I've never done it on my older Powershots, but I suppose I could try. Does it take extremely technical computer programming know-how to port CHDK to a new model of camera? Are there Guru's on this Forum that I could ask for advice on occasion if I attempt this?