Windows 7 standby mode

[rwohl1]

Is Windows 7 standby mode any more reliable than Vista's? With a Vista desktop from HP that I bought and returned last year, I was unable to get the computer the reliably go into, and stay in standby mode. I fiddled with the inactivity time settings, and with the settings to insure that mouse motion was not waking the computer, but to no avail. Windows would sometimes, but not always, enter standby mode after the designated period of inactivity. Even more disturbingly, the computer would sometimes wake up for no apparent reason.

I ask because I live in an area where the marginal cost of electricity is 44c/kwh. Running a 135 watt computer 24 x 7 costs $520/year.

I would like a computer that would:

a. Enter standby mode reliably based on the inactivity settings
b. Stay in standby mode
c. Wake quickly upon user action (eg keystroke)

Does anyone have enough experience with windows 7 to comment?

Thank you.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

The bug can still exist in some cases, it's caused, I hear, by rogue drivers. Based on my experience with Windows 7 I'd say yes to all three.

I use hibernation mode much more often than sleep mode. It saves your session to disk rather than memory which increases reliability. With hibernation you can even unplug the PC after it starts hibernating and when you plug it in and turn the PC on it's ready to go and still has your session saved. The downside is that it decreases wake time, exiting hibernation is only a slight bit quicker than booting because information needs to be pulled from disk. If you're concerned about power usage, I'd suggest using hibernation at least while you're away from your computer. When you get back hit the power button and take a piss or something.

 

[rwohl1]

Thanks for the reply. I would like to use standby (sleep) mode rather than hibernation because I go back and forth from my desk many times during the day, and want the computer to wake up quickly.