What is S3/Standby/Suspend to RAM and S4/Hibernate/Suspend to Disk?
S3/Standby is a “sleep state” (suspend to the system memory) that is supported by the systems hardware and certain operating systems. When ENERGY STAR is selected, S3 is automatically enabled. The default “timer” setting is “always on” (system standby=Never). A user can change the timer setting (Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options) to have the system go to “sleep” after a specified time (typically 10 to 30 minutes). Once the system goes to sleep, it will “wake up” when the mouse is moved, (Windows 2000 & Windows XP) any key is pressed on the keyboard or the power button is pressed (options can be configured by the user in the ‘Power Options’ within the system ‘Control Panels’ folder). System wake-up only takes a few seconds but CRT monitors may take approximately 10 seconds. Flat Panel displays will usually come on faster than CRT monitors. Thus, an ideal “Instant On” configuration includes a Flat Panel display. S4/Hibernate is a “sleep state” in which data is moved from s
