So from what i can tell when your computer sleeps it uses less energy to get in and out of sleep mode but uses more power in sleep mode, while when you hibernate it takes more power to get in and out of hibernation mode but uses less power in hibernation mode.
Following that, at which point does the power used to get into and out of hibernation mode is more than just having the computer in sleep mode?
Or how would one calculate that?
It uses enough power in sleep to keep your saved desktop in RAM.
At hibernation it writes the RAM to HD and shuts down cleanly, but for some reason can then startup faster. Plus all of your work is right where you left it on desktop.
The defaults are set perfectly, letting it sleep while you still may be working on it, then hibernating when you have likely left and now don't have to even think about turning it off or saving your work.
The power used to get into or out of hibernation is negligible when measured against no power use until next startup.
Buy a Kill-a-Watt device and do some real-life testing.
Hello IceFire,
I would say that if you frequently are on and off the computer during the day, then Sleep mode would be better for you. It uses only a tiniest bit more power than hibernate, but it will resume Windows 7 for you almost instantly.
If you are not off and on the computer often, then hibernate would save you more energy. Hibernate just does not resumes as fast as Sleep.
Without a power meter plugged inbetween your computer and the outlet measuring how much power is being used, I'm not sure how you would calculate it.
Hope this helps,
Shawn
k thx
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