Windows 10 has both battery saver option and power saver plan, what is the difference?

Question

The battery saver option can be clicked in the taskbar on the battery icon. Clicking this dims the screen and, by some sources, disables background Metro-apps. I noticed, 100% screen brightness is darker in battery saver than in normal mode. The option does not changes the percentage, it "silently" dims the screen.

What it does not do is switch to the power saver plan, it keeps the same plan (usually Balanced.)

On previous versions of windows, when you click on the battery icon, I had the option to switch between Balanced and Power Saver plan.

So, does anyone know what are under the hood differences with these two options? After introducing the metro-style settings, lot of same settings are adjustable from both control panel and the metro settings window. Battery save and power saver seem like that, but apparently are not exactly the same thing which complicates things.

Answer 1

Key differences :

Battery saver is an app that saves battery by restricting background data and reducing brightness. Powersaver plan is a power profile that determines how a system will behave(Sleep, Hibernation, etc..) when on Battery or AC power.

Turning on Battery saver will not alter OS settings(Sleep, Screen off time,Turning off Hard disk,etc...). But Switching to Powersaver plan will alter these settings.

Battery Saver will not function when a system is connected to a power source while Powersaver plan will run even when system is connected to a power source.

To answer other questions :

To understand the difference between the two you must first understand about Settings app and Control Panel.

Power saver plan is part of the Control Panel that Microsoft wants to replace the Control panel with the new settings app. As Gabriel Aul from Microsoft says on twitter

@GabeAul will the classic control panel be removed in favor of the new settings app?

In time yes, We expect the Settings app to subsume all of the prior Control Panel functionality.

It is done to provide a universal experience across Windows 10 PC and Windows 10 mobile. The Battery saver is a part of the new settings app and it is also found on Windows 10 mobile.

After introducing the metro-style settings, lot of same settings are adjustable from both control panel and the metro settings window.

That is because currently Microsoft is keeping Control panel as Settings app lacks many features of Control panel. But when control panel is replaced completely(once settings app is fully developed), the powersaver plan will be removed.

On previous versions of windows, when you click on the battery icon, I had the option to switch between Balanced and Power Saver plan.

This change is a part of Windows 10 and shows Microsoft's effort to move users towards the new settings app.

References :

1. Microsoft to replace the traditional Control Panel with the Windows 10 Settings app - Windows Central
2. Microsoft to replace Control Panel with Windows 10 Settings app - tenforums
3. Windows 10: Microsoft wants the Control Panel gone, will be subsumed by the Settings app - Winbeta
4. Tweet from Gabriel Aul