Putting a Computer in Hibernation
Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.
My computer takes forever to start up. I am tempted to just put it into hibernation or standby when I am done with it for the day, so that starting up will be quicker. Would I be damaging my computer by doing so?
Doing this shouldn’t cause any damage to your computer. For many users, one of these two techniques is standard procedure, in fact. Standby, or sleep, mode, gets you back to work more quickly, because the machine never completely shuts down. Its biggest downside is that, on occasion, computers fail to “awaken” properly from this mode, and you have to do a full restart. So I would advise that you carefully save any work before initiating standby.
In my experience, this kind of glitch is less likely to happen when you use hibernation, in which the computer does completely shut down, but first saves to the hard disk a record of the state of the machine.
When the computer restarts, all open programs and files are restored just as you left them. The downside here is that getting going again using hibernation takes longer than it does using standby mode. And, even though it’s more reliable than standby mode, I’d still advise saving all your work each time before using hibernation.
I am thinking about switching to a MacBook Pro laptop. I understand that it has a real good automatic Wi-Fi detection system. But if I also use a cellular modem card from Verizon or Sprint to access the Internet, won’t the two conflict?
No. The Mac operating system treats the two kinds of connections separately, each with its own user interface. It can detect and connect either one, if you have coverage of both types.
I’m interested in getting a laptop with LED display and SSD drive. Do you think the price for those components will fall drastically in three months’ time?
Displays that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been around for a while and don’t tend to be a major deal breaker in the higher-end laptops in which they are commonly offered. But solid-state drives (SSDs), which replace hard disks with memory chips to store your data, are much rarer and newer and still can add significantly to the price of even a high-end laptop. I am no expert in price forecasting, but, while SSD prices will fall, I doubt they will drop “drastically” in as little as three months.
You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
Comments
On the other hand, there is this from http://www.digitimes.com/bits_.....PD222.html:
“NAND flash market sees worsening oversupply
The NAND flash market is seeing oversupply which not only affects the spot market but has also impacted contract pricing in second half of December, according to sources at memory module makers.
Contract quotes in the second half of December for 8Gb MLC chips dropped 13-25% to an average price of US$3.48, while 16Gb MLC chips saw a drop of 21-25% to US$6.52. Due to limited production volume, SLC chips, on the other hand, did not see a large drop, according to DRAMeXchange.
The falling NAND flash contract quotes are due Apple’s strategy of decreasing its NAND flash orders in December every year, while 50nm based chips also entered volume production in the fourth quarter this year, aggravating the balance of supply and demand.
Although the market expected SSDs (solid state drives) would help ease the oversupply problem, the relative immaturity of SSD products meant that even with the large drops in NAND flash pricing, the cost of SSDs for notebooks is still too high, noted the sources.
Some module makers expect prices will have a chance to bounce back in January next year, since downstream makers have cleared up a lot of inventory. However, others expect the imbalance will continue as NAND flash production will increase in January.”
Posted by Dave Barnes at December 26th, 2007 at 9:00 pmOn the slow start up question, there was little information on the computer.
I had this problem because of Zone Alarm’s firewall. I got rid of Zone Alarm, got AVG 7.5 Free for A/V and used the Windows firewall and everything is fine.
Posted by Richard Mitnick at December 27th, 2007 at 6:46 amRegarding the LED display/SSD drive laptop, your letter-writer may wish to wait to see what Steve Jobs announces on Jan. 15th at Macworld San Francisco. It has been rumored for several months now that Apple may have an ultra-portable laptop with exactly these features.
Posted by Dave Shepard at December 27th, 2007 at 8:29 am