System Power Options; Hibernate Mode Vs. Shutdown - Alienware Aurora mALX User Manual

Alienware Aurora mALX Technical Reference

System Power Options

You can use the system power options to stop the computer's operation and
restartwhere you left off. The system features Sleep and Hibernate power saving states
(Hibernate will need to be enabled from power plan Advanced Settings see Figure 3 - 1
on page 3 - 4).
Hibernate vs. Shutdown
Hibernate and Shut Down are the same in that the system is off and you need to press
the power button to turn it on. Their main difference is:
When you come back from hibernation, you can return to where you last left off
(what was on your desktop) without reopening the application(s) and file(s) you last
used.
You can use either method depending on your needs.
Sleep vs. Hibernate
If you want to stay away from your work for just a while, you can put the system into
Sleep instead of in hibernation. It takes a longer time to wake up the system from
Hibernate mode than from Sleep mode. Sleep will effectively act as Hibernate if the
computer battery becomes depleted (see "Sleep Mode & Mobile PC Battery" on page
3 - 7).