I have a couple of questions concerning Hibernate and Standby features

Hibernate:
Dumps RAM to disk and reads it back. I use this feature frequently.
However, for the kind of use I intend, I do not want to tax my hard
drive each time I hibernate with the write activity. I would like to be
able to restore state from a pre-determined memory image if I can. I
understand that this can potentially make the system unstable if the
disk resources are out of sync with the memory image resources but that
is a chance I am willing to take (I can always reboot in that case).
Can I just make my laptop NOT write a new memory image to disk
replacing the old one by default but only when I specify it to?

Standby:
Is there a chart someplace with regard to the power consumption in the
Standby mode and at various screen brightness levels so I can make more
informed decisions on which modes to use. I understand that each laptop
comsumes power differently, but a few examples would help.

Thanks.