Basically every laptop I’ve owned I’ve had to disable sleep when the lid is closed as I often leave them plugged in and want background tasks like downloads or updates to be able to run while I’m not using the machine. However, I don’t think PC laptops have a way to switch to a super low power state and just run background tasks like downloads, alarms and notifications or running scheduled tasks without just being left on in regular power mode. Why is this not just a default feature of laptops, given that phones and tablets have been doing this kind of thing for the last decade or more?
Does anyone know if there are plans to make power management for laptops allow for running certain tasks in Windows or Linux in the future? My smug Apple using friend tells me his Macbook already does this, but is the lack of this feature on PCs software related or something innate to x86 vs ARM architecture?
From that perspective we’re already seeing substantial advantages coming from the new hardware on the market. They’re lowering the TDP of the entire processor to save power. He used to burn 50 or 60 Watts just to run some torrents now It’s nothing to have a laptop running on 15 or 20 Watts near idle.
Your power savings don’t need to come from sleep they can just come from more efficient operation. Peer to peer has always been hard to make efficient.