An approach is described herein that includes a method for power management of a device. In one example, the method includes sampling duration characteristics for a plurality of past idle events for a predetermined interval of time and determining whether to transition a device to a powered-down state based on the sampled duration characteristics. In another example, the method includes determining whether an average idle time for a plurality of past idle events exceeds an energy break-even point threshold. If the average idle time for the plurality of past idle events exceeds the energy break-even point threshold, a device is immediately transitioned to a powered-down state upon receipt of a next idle event. If the average idle time for the plurality of past idle events does not exceed the energy break-even point threshold, transition of the device to the powered-down state is delayed.