What is better sleep or hibernation on a computer?

Answer 1

Sleep puts the computer in a low-power mode. The CPU and hard drives are turned off, and only the RAM receives power. Upon some form of input, the computer powers back up to where you left off.

Hibernation stores all the contents of RAM to the hard drive and powers off completely. When the computer is powered back on, the kernel loads the saved contents back into RAM.

Thus, Sleep is faster to respond back to life, and hibernation allows you to shut the computer down and even unplug it.

Answer 2

It's up to you - the user. According to the help file on my laptop - here are the differences between sleep and hibernate...

Sleep is a power-saving state that allows a computer to quickly resume full-power operation (typically within several seconds) when you want to start working again. Putting your computer into the sleep state is like pausing a DVD player. The computer immediately stops what it's doing and is ready to start again when you want to resume working.

Hibernation is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk, and then turns off your computer. Of all the power-saving states in Windows, hibernation uses the least amount of power. On a laptop, use hibernation when you know that you won't use your laptop for an extended period and won't have an opportunity to charge the battery during that time.

In conclusion, if you're using a desk-top computer - choose whichever is best in your opinion. If you're using a laptop - you're best using hibernate, especially if running it off the internal batteries.