That does not make the insanely bright white light any less annoying when you are trying to sleep, though. Quite the opposite, in my experience.
Anecdote: My first MBP was a graduation present from my parents just before I graduated HS. For some unmemorable reason they “grounded” me from it for a day or two (during finals, maybe?) - but in its sleep state, it was keeping them from sleeping, themselves, with its bright, pulsing LED as it sat on Mom's dresser. I had to laugh just a little at what felt, to me, like Apple-sponsored karmic revenge :)
Wrong!
Sleep may be the default state but I definitely want to see whether it's really in that state - or in some other.
I hate this kind of wishful thinking from hardware designers.
It's the same mindset that removed the status LED from the Samsung Galaxy S. A status LED that exists on almost every other android handset and that is very useful for indicating missed calls, low battery and many other things (it's freely programmable).
Congrats Samsung and Apple, you saved on a $0.20 part - but in the wrong place.