playBunny: Law 13 says:

Plays must be made for both dice if possible. Either number may be played first. If either may be played, but not both, then the higher number thrown must be played.

Law 17 states:

When in a position to bear off, you may bear off a man from a point corresponding to the number on a die thrown, or from the highest occupied point which is lower to the number indicated by a die. If a number is thrown for an unoccupied point, no man below can be borne off, using such number, while any man remains on a higher point. You are not required to bear off a man if you are able to move a man forward on the board. Law 13 applies here as in all other situations.

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The authors pause here to show what ChessMaster1000 was talking about when not necessarily using all of the pips. What he said is correct according to these rules. You do not have to use the pips to maximum gain as long as you use both dice in either order. They show an example of when you would want to play it one way as compared to the other.

OK, this may or may not answer the question about how one moves his last man off the board. You guys will have to appeal to the Supreme Court while I will refer you to Law 20 in the scoring section:

A game is won by the player who first bears off all of his men.

This to me means either way of moving the last man off is OK by the rules. If I use the 4 and bear my last man off, the game is over by Law and I am no longer able to make any more moves. If I use the 1 to hit my opponent's blot and then the 4 to bear my last man off, I have again won the game and it is over. It is clear to me that both are permissable without any of this illegal move stuff I keep reading about. I could see an argument if one made an illegal move that won him the game that was against the rules, but that isn't the case here. In NFL and NCAA Football, even with the clock at zero time left, the game will continue if the defense had a penalty charged to it and the offensive side accepts the penalty. I imagine there's other sports and games that have similiar situations too.

The game's over. Now pay up, and let's get another game started. :)