The Best Choice Between Standby, Hibernate and Shutdown

Posted on October 2, 2010, 12:53 pm

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The Best Choice Between Standby, Hibernate and Shutdown

Standby
Standby is like "nodding off" during class or a meeting.
The computer keeps your applications running and documents open.
Power is feeding to your computer memory, but peripherals are powered off and the hard drive power is minimized.
The computer "wakes up" quickly from standby mode, and should look just like it did when you walked away.
The biggest drawback of standby mode is the power usage, and it should only be used when leaving the computer for a brief period.

Hibernate
Computing hibernation is more like a nap.
It recalls all open documents and applications, but shuts down power to the computer.
Again, the computer should look exactly as it did when you selected hibernate mode, but the computer takes longer to "wake up" from hibernate.
The hibernate mode uses no power, but it is still active enough to automatically restart and begin using power again in the middle of the night. A virus or scheduled tasks can cause this power-wasting function.
Here is a Microsoft summary of the two "sleep" oions.

Shut down
A full shut down is more like a full night's sleep or even biological hibernation.
It powers off your computer completely. It's always the best oion when you are not using your computer for a while.
It is the best environmental oion because it draws no power, and can even safely unplug the computer or shut off the power strip to the computer and all the other office peripherals.
The power savings are also financial savings.
In early 2009, USA Today said U.S. organizations waste $2.8 billion and 20 tons of carbon dioxide each year powering idle computers.
The numbers are from the 2009 PC Energy Report from the 1E software company and the Alliance to Save Energy.
It is also the best bet for the computer's "health," as described here.