If you’re confused about whether it’s best to place your PC in “Standby” mode or “Hibernate” mode when you are going to be away from it for a while, you aren’t alone. The distinction between these two modes has always been a murky one for many Windows users. In a nutshell, here are the differences between the two:
In Standby mode the PC powers down the primary electric current hogs such as the monitor, the fans and the hard drive(s). The CPU also goes into a power saving mode. But the system RAM is kept fully powered so that Windows can be back up and running in a fairly short period of time after the power button is pressed.
Standby mode is a good option if you use a desktop PC and you don’t plan to be away from it for all that long.
In Hibernation mode the contents of the system RAM is saved to the hard disk, then the PC is completely powered off, resulting in no power usage whatsoever. The tradeoff is that it takes longer for Windows to become fully activated when the power button is pressed because all of that data stored temporarily on the hard disk must be loaded back into RAM.
Hibernation is usually the best option when using a laptop because it results in maximum power savings and battery charge life. Of course if your laptop is on your desk (or any other place where you can leave it plugged into an electrical outlet), Standby will work just fine.
A side note: Depending on how your Windows installation is configured, you might not see the “Hibernation” option after clicking Start>Shutdown. If this is the case with your PC, pressing and holding the “Shift” key should change the “Standby” option to “Hibernate”.