On/Off function in SP3

[Surface User]

I have a question about the on/off function on the SP3. If i tap "Power" and then tap "shutdown", isn´t that a real Power off that turns the SP3 off completely?
Since when i go into the activity monitor it has not started the up time counter in the performence tab from zero again, also when i go to the Command promopt with the command "Systeminfo" the System boot time also haven´t started to Count from zero again, it shows that the boot time is 30 hours even though i just turned the SP3 on.
That to me looks as it isn´t a real off mode, am i correct? Maybe thats why the SP´s boot up so fast?

The strange thing is that when i tap "Power" and then tap "Restart" then both the up time in the Activity monitor as well as the system boot time in Command prompt starts counting the time from zero. But this is not happening with a normal shutdown and then when i turn it on again?

It is like this with both my SP3 and my SP1.

Do yours do the same thing? And is the "Shutdown" option" a real Power off?

 

[Daimon]

[...] The goal of Fast Boot is pretty obvious from its name - Windows 8 boots up faster than previous versions of the operating system ever did. To accomplish this feat, Windows 8 doesn't totally shut down when you click the Shut down command. Instead it only partially shuts down and partially hibernates. This is the Hybrid Shutdown part of the equation. Then, when you turn on your computer, Windows 8 starts very quickly because it only has to partially boot up and partially wake up. This is the Fast Boot part of the equation. Fast Boot also gets a boost from the efficiency of today's hardware; namely UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and multi-core processors.[...]

 

[Surface User]

Well that explains it all, thanks for the article it explained it in a good way.
Actually i have only been using Windows 8 for less than 2 month and only with my two SP´s. Before that i have been a mac user for many years. Actually i haven´t powered on a Win 8 computer earlier besides the SP´s, so i thought the very fast boot up was a function of the Surface Pro´s. I couldn´t imagine that all Win 8 computers boots up that fast.
Well you learn something new everyday.

 

[bluegrass]

I don't know where the "activity monitor" is and frankly the thought of wondering if some counter was reset to zero had never occurred to me. That said I followed Daimon's link and read what was a very informative writeup about shutdowns, etc. Most of the time I choose shutdown when I'm not going to be using my Surface for more than an hour. I rarely use the physical power on/off switch. I haven't noticed that the hybrid shutdown that the Surface uses consumes any of my battery so it must be very efficient.

 

[Surface User]

I have been thinking for a while why the boot up process is so fast and that it feels as it is not a real shutdown, then today when i saw the counter shoving 30 hours and i knew i had shutdown the SP3 only an hour earlier i was thinking that thats strange, and even when the command prompt command Systeminfo shoved the same 30 hours i thought that was really strange. But the article explained everything. It also explained that in a restart the computer makes a real power off before it starts up again.
So if a newly installed program asks me to restart the computer then it will not be enough to press shutdown and then turn the computer on again, if one wanted to do it that way for some reason?
I haven´t noticed any particular battery usage either while in that state, so it seems like a good way to "power down".
Maybe there are some negative sides to it as well?

 

[bluegrass]

I'm sure a shutdown will work as well when a program installation asks you to restart the computer but since a restart is an option, that is what I would do.

 

[Surface User]

Aha okay, i just thought that maybe it´s that way since a shutdown + power on is not the same thing as a restart in these systems with hybrid shutdown.