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?
ARM vs x86 is part of the equation; ARM uses significantly less power than x86, but has a simplified instruction. x86 consumes more power but is more robust and has higher computing capabilities and higher workload efficiency
The other half of the equation is OS level software that can restrict what is allowed to process during said low power sleep.
In theory nothing stops x86 hardware from having something comparable, but it would probably use a lot more power than you’d expect.
There are ways to make windows and Linux wake at certain times for actions via wake timers which isn’t quite the same, though