Standby?

I would appreciate answers to the following questions...

1- What happens when my computer goes into "Standby"? What is shut down & what isn't?

2- If I am only going to be away from my computer for a short time, does it make sense to go into standby.

3- Does it stress my computer to go into & out of standby rather often?

 

Hi Bill,when your computer goes in standby it conserves power buy turning off Display and HardDrive.when it exits standby it returns to the same operating state it was in before standby.


IMO if your gone short periods, I really do not see the point of standby but perhaps the monitor sleep.Also Note that in standby mode in the event the lose of AC power or battery Data my be lost.


Hibernate Mode is different,it conserves power by copying data to a reserved area on the HDD then completly turning off the computer.when you Exit hibernate the operating system returns to the same state as before the hybernate. hope this helps

 

Just a minor observation (from an occasional hibernate user), it takes a little longer for the computer to come out of hibernate mode vs. standby mode. Waking up from standby is almost instantaneous, from hibernate takes a few moments but is still much much faster than a full bootup, at least on my computer.

 

Bellgamin:
As far as I know, Stand-By turns off the screen and the hard drive, but RAM is kept alive. In my case, the power indicator LED start blinking at a very slow rate. When you turn the computer back on, it's the same as before. I do loose the internet connection, so I guess that is turned off also. If your are downloading or have a IM client running, Stand-By will stop them because of this.

I don't use Stand-By that much, I prefer turning off the screen, cause it doesn't interfere with what I'm doing, but if you don't need apps to keep running, it's a great way to save power. I read somewhere that if you must turn off your computer for a short while, it uses less energy to go to Stand-By instead of shutting down and having to start up all over again. It depends on how long it will be off.

Hibernate instead is exactly as shutting down, bur all RAM contents are saved on the hard disk, so when you turn the computer on, it's as you have never turned it off.

 

Question - What good is turning off the monitor and leaving the computer running?
As long as I'm going to be home, I start my computer in the morning, and when I finish working on it I put it in standby for as long as a 1 or 2 hours until I come back to check e-mails etc. then it's back to standby, and I'll do this all day. I don't shut down unless I'm going out or I know I won't need the computer for a long period. I read that hibernate is mainly for laptop users to save the batteries.

 

For Me it makes a big difference in battery life on a laptop.Even a simple dimming of the LCD equals longer battery Life while running battery.If I was to let the LCD sleep when No activity,example 15 minutes,30 minutes,I will get the maxiumum battery life.For a desktop it does conserve some energy,more so for a CRT monitor then a LCD.Yet my hard drive is immediate ready to Go when I return.PS by the Way what happened to Mr Bellgamin did he get stuck in sleepmode.

 

For laptop users standby will keep your machine cooler but at the same time ready to do business with a click of the keyboard .

For those that cannot (or will not) buy a new battery for an older machine the power pack may work absolutely fine by itself ( I have an older pre Lenovo IBM that does exactly that).

In my service truck I use a cigarette outlet AC-converter that does the same thing as an outlet at home and the laptop fires-up nice and bright with it.

As for desktop computers I recommend standby as it shuts down all fans, hard drives and (powers down) monitors which all can cause damage (if not a fire) if they malfunction. Think about it, one turns off the TV, coffee maker ect. when not in use.

The "Mean Time Between Malfunction" rating should not be overestimated --let the warranty be your better guide.

For most users 3 to 5 years is the average computer age before upgrading.

Using standby should not cause premature failure in this time frame (it may even prolong the lifetime of a computer (I must admit that this subject is vigorously bickered over [both pro and con] by even the most astute computer hardware engineers).

 

A spell of IBS got me down for a bit. Ergo, I have been standingby.

Thanks to all for the excellent comments.