Windows 8 Connected Standby: How to Reduce Computer Battery Consumption

Connected Standby – New Feature Brought by Windows 8/8.1 OS

You many have never noticed, Microsoft has implemented a very interesting new feature in the latest updates from Windows versions 8 and 8.1 operating system.

We’re talking about Connected Standby, a new low-power state that features extremely low power consumption while maintaining Internet connectivity developed by the company in order to reduce battery consumption on PCs, notebooks, tablets and smartphones.

However, to understand the exact purpose of Connected Standby, you must first of all observe a critical difference between the functioning of your mobile devices and the “larger computers.”

When you do not want to use your phone for some time, just lock your screen and leave it anywhere. Your display will be off – which saves the battery – and some processes are frozen, but the device remains connected to the internet and completely able to receive new data in real time (messages, emails, updates, etc.). Thus, when you need to use the gadget, just push a button to “wake him up” and you will have ready for use, properly connected and new data received.

But the situation has been different in laptops and desktop computers. We are accustomed to using the “Sleep” or “Hibernate” modes, which freeze the processes running in RAM and keep the machine asleep until you activate it. With it, once you wake up the PC, programs and tasks that were running will be sufficiently ready for use in the state, in which you left them to activate standby.

However, unlike tablets and mobiles, computers do not maintain a constant activity during standby modes. Without receiving data from the internet, they are unable to get the last email from your inbox and notify the user if he gets some important message.

Also, waking up a machine from sleep or hibernation is not as fast as unlock the screen of a smartphone. When you wake up your computer, it will take a few seconds to “unfreeze” the memory, reconnect on a network, check for new data packet, check system updates and so on.

Basically, the Connected Standby is an evolution of the conventional modes of sleep and hibernation. It makes your device always remains connected and active while in any sleep mode – the screen turns off and the desktop programs are frozen, but the apps still working in full steam.

The novelty, however, is not available for any gadget. Initially, the Connected Standby was presented exclusively on devices whose processors using the ARM architecture – ie, RT Surface, Surface 2 and Nokia Lumia After 2520, it is also necessary that the hardware is compatible with this new way of managing their own energy.

Recently, Intel has also decided to join in the fun and started making chips with support for the resource; for example, we can cite the line Clover Trail (latest models of Atom processors), that is applied on modern tablets like the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2.

There is a simple way to find out if your device is compatible with Connected Standby. Just open the Command Prompt (CMD) and type powercfg, then pressing Enter. The system returns a list of standby modes that are available for your computer: just check if “Standby Connected” option is quoted or not.

The Downside of Standby Connected

Although the Connected Standby can be an attractive feature for many users, the truth is that there are hundreds of people looking for a daily form of switch this feature off and save the battery of the device. In fact, this standby may prove inconvenient because of its high energy consumption – after all, different from normal machines, one always connected gadget is working continuously and receiving data packets at any moment.

Unfortunately, we have bad news for you: it is impossible to disable the Connected Standby. He is a native feature of the system and is incorporated into hibernation and the traditional suspension devices with compatible processors. It is even mentioned in any configuration menus or customizing power modes that are used to access our machines.

How To Save Battery Life?

Although you cannot disable the Connected Standby, there are some ways to turn it off to save the battery of your computer. The main one is the simplest, most basic and obvious: shut off power completely. Yes, we know that this will cause you to spend a lot of time when you need to turn it back on, but this is a solution if you intend to leave the device aside (would not use up all your battery during this interval).

Another interesting option is to turn on Airplane mode before suspend or hibernate the machine. Thus, it will continue “semi-agreed” thanks to Connected Standby, but you can not download new data packets due to the off network connection (and consequently spending less electricity). This alternative becomes even more advantageous as Windows 8 has a very practical shortcut for enabling this functionality.

In short, the Connected Standby is an interesting and necessary innovation – the always-on devices are a strong trend in the technology industry and certainly have more benefits than disadvantages. However, it would still be nice if Microsoft offered the user the freedom to turn this feature off if he wanted to – maybe it will add that option in a future update?