Why I stopped using 'Modern Standby' on my Windows laptop to save battery overnight

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• Sleep, hibernate, and shut down all behave differently. 
• Newer PCs support "Modern Standby", a state that's different from traditional sleep.
• Shutting down your computer may actually be faster than restarting it. 

Have you ever put your laptop in your bag, only to pull it out and find it's hot and the battery is drained, even though you put it to sleep? Turns out Windows may have gotten in its own way, preventing it from fully going to sleep.

Also: If Microsoft wants Windows 12 to succeed, it can't let history repeat itself - let me explain

Modern standby is the sleep state most newer PCs go into when you tell them to sleep. It cuts power to the display and CPU, but allows for minimal background processes to continue, so you ...