In the downloads section on the support pages on http://www.hp.com  for my HP EliteBook 8730w, I did found that HP is offering something called “System Default Settings for Microsoft Windows 7” One thing that this installs is a new power plan called HP Optimized, which actually replaces the default Balanced power plan.

So what differs between the two? I compared them and come to the following differences:

Balanced	HP Optimized
Sleep/Hibernate after/On battery  360 minutes Sleep/Hibernate after/Plugged in: 360 minutes	Sleep/Hibernate after/On battery  1080 minutes Sleep/Hibernate after/Plugged in: 1080 minutes
Power buttons and lid/Lid close action/Plugged in: Sleep Power buttons and lid/Power button action/On battery: Sleep Power buttons and lid/Power button action/Plugged in: Sleep	Power buttons and lid/Lid close action/Plugged in: Do nothing Power buttons and lid/Power button action/On battery: Shut down Power buttons and lid/Power button action/Plugged in: Shut down
Display/Display brightness/Plugged in: 100%	Display/Display brightness/Plugged in: 56%