Windows Hibernation increases startup/shutdown speed
Windows 8 has "Hybrid Shutdown" enabled by default. In this mode, Windows doesn't shut down after logging you out, but enters hibernation. (Except when rebooting.)
Disabling hibernation forces Windows to revert to fully shutting down and booting up.
In the late 1970's there was the Intertec Superbrain, a Z80 based CP/M offering. One the features was "Phantom Boot ROM". It did not have to run through a full boot, as a "saved" state existed. It was an "instant on" machine.
Similarly, on z/OS mainframes, CICS transaction server instances can be "warm started" or "cold started". A warm start begins from a saved point of consistency.
And the mainframe itself can be booted from a later save point in its own boot process. (IPL rather than IML).
Ubuntu (et al.) has "ureadahead". As well as hibernation.
Any scheme that saves a state for which considerable work has to be expended to reach (work that exceeds the work required to save and restore) has a net benefit to start-up performance.
The only savings you will get from not using Windows hibernation are :
- Shutdown time.
- Storage.
- Power, if you are running so short a good hibernate is not guaranteed.
- Effort required to check and repair integrity when hibernation fails.
Remember that Windows Vista would take 5 minutes to boot in the extreme ?