Whats with the two sleep modes?

[silbeej]

I put my MBP to sleep by going apple>sleep, and when it went to sleep the pulsing light was very dim, but as soon as i closed the lid, it pulsed brighter. Is there any difference in the lid open sleep and the lid closed?

 

[Eidorian]

It looks like the light's brightness might vary on Quick Sleep vs. Hibernation. I tested this myself on my MacBook and got the same result.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/deepsleep.html

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/quicksleep.html

These might explain what I'm talking about in a little more detail.

 

[silbeej]

So would closing the lid be quick sleep, where as selecting it on screen by going to the apple or pressing the power button being the hibernation?

 

[Eidorian]

So would closing the lid be quick sleep, where as selecting it on screen by going to the apple or pressing the power button being the hibernation?

Closing the lid is hibernating. The Apple -> Sleep and shortcut is Quick Sleep.

Note: The hardware isn't completely powered off unless you use the Deep Sleep widget or fiddle with how sleep works via Terminal.