Computer question for all you smart computer types

[Alobar]

My laptop goes into "hybernate" when I close the lid. If Im not going to be using my computer for a while, should i be turning it off? Is there a difference?

[stabn]

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My laptop goes into "hybernate" when I close the lid. If Im not going to be using my computer for a while, should i be turning it off? Is there a difference?

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Hibernate is fine in this situation, it doesn't use any extra battery. If it went into suspend/standby you would want to turn it off if you are running on batteries because it does use power (just less than full power). I can get into the details of what hibernate does if you want, but basically it saves your ram to hiberfil.sys and loads that when your computer boots in order to restore it to the same state it was in before you hibernated.

[jba]

there is no harm in going into hibernate rather than shutting down and turning off -- the power will shut off completely in hibernate. going into hibernate will allow you to startup more quickly, which is obviously good. hibernate is good.

if you put it in standby mode it will start back up even faster, but the power does not shut off completely in this mode. The harddrive and monitor are off so little power is used but it will drain your battery eventually. If you often close your laptop for 10-20 mins at a time, standby might be good for you. It basically turns back on instantly.