In 8 hours it uses 20% of the battery. When Windows or Mac are put to sleep, the damn things can sleep for a week! This is the case with Linux on multiple laptops.
Is there some kind of manipulation going by ring -1 that detects Linux is running? Is Linux not respecting some procedure and kissing a step?
Is that true for Mac and Windows too? Why do I need to differentiate the two on Linux but not the others? Why isn’t the default the better one?
suspend to RAM (aka sleep) means the computer stays powered on in a very low-power state. Everything in memory is kept as-is, and it consequently draws a little power to keep the RAM active. This makes it very quick to enter this state and to wake up from it.
suspend to disk (aka hibernate) dumps the RAM to disk, and then powers down fully. It takes a little while to dump all RAM to disk and also to restore it.
So “the better one” depends on what works best for your particular circumstances. If you don’t know and want a big corporate entity to make those decisions for you, stick with Microsoft and Apple products. If you would rather take the time to find out what’s best for you, then go FOSS.
“big corporate entity’s decision” sounds very valid for laptop hibernation.
It would be nice for Linux to have the same as the default
It’s something to hassle with on Windows too. Less so on macOS because it’s easier for them to optimize everything when they control the whole software and hardware stack.