Typically linux users (like myself) enable S3 sleep mode, which does exactly what most folks expect it to (sleep until a user action is taken). It's rock solid and I've never had a problem with it in ~8 years.

Are you possibly referring to something that isn't automatic detection of hardware features? I've been on Linux laptops for 13 years but almost always on something shipped by the vendor, and I've never had these problems of going to sleep or bad power management that I hear about from HN comments.

I've been using linux on laptops for years and I have no idea what you are talking about.

The ability to configure the options and not have every interaction tracked does make Linux the best option. However unpopular that may be.

The Dell with Linux out of the box had cooling issues and a high-pitched fan. Sure the cores would be disabled to deal with the power issues, which supports your point.