Dell's website: "...factory enabled Energy Smart software settings put your system into a low-energy sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity..."

 

And read this.<>

 

Ron 

There may be some hidden BIOS settings that show the Energy Smart logo (when you reset the BIOS defaults the logo disappears)

Based on what you said and what I’ve read since, here’s what I think to be true.  

 

Energy Smart machines have components that are designed to work with power management settings to reduce power. These components will be part of the machine regardless of whether one selects Energy Smart enabled or not.

 

If one selects Energy Smart Enabled when ordering the machine, it is likely overall power consumption will be reduced significantly. Otherwise you get the same components but no power-saving benefit.

 

The obvious answer is to order the machine with Energy Smart enabled. You save significant power and there is no performance penalty.

 

But should anyone be worried about getting stuck with something they don’t like and can’t change? No. The settings can easily be changed later in Windows Control Panel or the BIOS. But, other than the fact that someone might want the machine to stay awake a bit longer, they aren’t likely to want to change any of them because they're saving money with no downside. 

 

The bottom line seems to be (a) there is no cause for concern, and (b) order the system with Energy Smart enabled. It’s the Energy Smart thing to do.