Windows Modern Standby, initially known as Connected Standby, was one of the major features Microsoft introduced with Windows 8.1. It promised benefits like the ability to instantly wake up your PC and receive notifications or install updates in sleep mode. But, even after 10 years, Modern Standby still has too many downsides and, frankly, questionable benefits. I don't understand why this feature is forced on everyone, and there's no easy way to disable it.

Modern Standby is designed for Arm

Microsoft introduced Connected Standby all the way back in Windows 8.1, and one of the reasons it made sense is that the company was just starting to make Arm-based Windows devices like the Surface RT and Surface 2. The thing about Arm chipsets is that they're extremely well optimized for low-power scenarios, and handling sleep mode is one of their most essential capabilities. Arm processors are inside all of the best phones (and every phone, realistically), and it would be unreasonable for phones to be using as much battery in sleep mode as they do during active use.

It would not make a lot of sense for phones to not be able to receive calls and notifications while they're inactive. That's the whole reason most of us carry phones in the first place. So of course, keeping connectivity and some background activity running makes a lot of sense. Plus, instant wake means you can actually use the phone as soon as you need it, so that's another benefit, and Arm processors can do all of that while using very little power. These are things that make a lot of sense for phones, and in theory, they should hold up for laptops, too.

The thing is, processors made by Intel and AMD were never designed for this kind of usage scenario. Both companies, but especially Intel, have been trying for years to improve power management, but it just hasn't worked out. I can't tell you how many times I've closed my laptop and slipped it in my bag only to find it extremely warm when I use it again. Sometimes I'll even feel it in my backpack while I'm wearing it. x86 processors use a lot more power and generate a lot more heat in connected standby. As such, battery life in standby mode is not great on Windows, and devices get very hot if you put them in closed spaces. Heat can damage components, too, so it's a loss all around.

Of course, Windows PCs with Arm processors do exist, but they're still a tiny minority of the Windows market share. Very few Windows-based PCs have Arm, and most of the best laptops on the market have Intel processors, so a feature like Modern Standby is actively making the experience worse for the vast majority of Windows users.

The benefits of Modern Standby aren't that compelling

I did mention that benefits like instant wake and background connectivity in sleep mode should be beneficial to laptops as well, but in reality, I'm not sure that they really are.

99% of the time, when I close my laptop's screen, I have no intention of using the laptop until I'm ready to open it again and do whatever I need to do. So the fact that my computer can stay connected to the internet to receive notifications or process background tasks is not really relevant to me, and I suspect that's the case for most laptop users. You use it when you need it, and close it when you're done. No one wants to be summoned to their computer when they're not using it. Maybe you could argue that Windows tablets are a different story, but even then, that will be a minority of Windows users.

The other main benefit of Modern Standby is instant wake, and this one can be quite nice. No one likes waiting around for their computer to be ready to use, so the ability to instantly wake up from sleep can save some time. But take any modern computer and think about how long it actually takes to boot these days. With SSDs getting increasingly faster, even a cold boot on a modern laptop is fairly fast and takes no more than a few seconds. Plus, the way sleep used to be handled in Windows would save your computer's state to RAM, which would allow it to wake up even faster than that. It's not like RAM has stagnated in terms of speeds, either.

The time that instant wake saves you is minimal, plus, just because laptops wake up quickly, it doesn't necessarily mean the laptop is ready to use. I've had some devices that need a couple of extra seconds for things like a fingerprint reader to be fully functional again, so it's not like the laptop is completely ready to go every time.

macOS gives you the option, so why not Windows?

What's most baffling of all is that Windows just doesn't give you the option to turn this feature off, while even Apple gives you the option. On Intel-based Macs, there's an option called Power Nap, which lets you choose whether you want your MacBook to perform background activity in sleep mode. Granted, this option isn't available in the latest Arm-based Macs, but at least it makes sense there since Arm processors are much better at handling sleep. They'll still use some battery, but it won't be nearly as noticeable.

With the Windows ecosystem still being mostly composed of x86 PCs that do such a terrible job of running in sleep mode without draining the battery or warming up, I have to wonder why there's no option to turn this off on any modern PC, Arm or not. Especially because that option did exist back in Windows 8.1. While there are methods to disable modern standby, most modern laptops today just don't support the previous sleep model anymore, so you have to give up any form of sleep if you don't want your PC wasting battery and getting hot in your backpack.

Windows is often thought of as a freer and more customizable platform than macOS, but in this situation, that's not at all the case. If it was a feature that benefited most users, I would say that's acceptable, but the upsides just aren't that necessary on a PC, and the downsides are very apparent. Since sleep support is defined by the firmware of each computer, it might not be possible to change the behavior on all existing PCs, but I hope things will change in future Windows PCs.