Can you be more specific than "messed up"? I'm actually looking at this very device as my next Linux laptop. Do you mean it performs badly? That the hardware is bad? That the drivers don't support something you want to do?
I have a Thinkpad X220. First thing I did when I got the machine was load Ubuntu onto it. There were a number of annoyances: the machine got really hot, the fan stayed on constantly, the battery drained way quicker than in Windows.
But the most annoying problem was definitely the damn trackpad. The main problem is that it's horribly jumpy and unpredictable. No matter how I tweaked the options for the device, it would hop erratically. Most annoyingly, the act of lifting my finger away from the trackpad would cause the cursor to move. So, for example, I would move the cursor over a 'close window' icon, lift my finger to do something else (e.g. press a button/whatever) and the cursor would no longer be over the icon. I'd then have to reposition the cursor. So frustrating that I just gave up on the trackpad for a while and started using the trackpoint (which, I tend to call "the nipple").
Eventually, due to all of the problems taken together, I just started using Windows 7 (which, to my surprise, I actually like) with Ubuntu running in VirtualBox. All problems seem to be gone. Trackpad is totally fine in the VM.
Are you running ubuntu with all the graphical niceties ? And is the laptop heating up more when you are running a vm ? Are fans louder when running ubuntu in a VIM ?
Thank you. I am looking for a quiet laptop (currently using a VAIO) to run linux and I came to the conclusion that I better run it in a VM if I want to minimize fan noise.
Used a trackpoint for a long time. Big glass touchpad is way more efficient. You move your fingers more, but because you have more control over the larger range of movement than you do over the smaller range of movement, you can jack up the tracking speed a lot higher.
I just increased the sensitivity of the TrackPoint. When I use a MacBook (supposedly the pinnacle of trackpad technology), I feel like the cursor is moving in slow motion.
That's what I thought. Though the TrackPoint on my T410 has worn out after a couple of years and is almost unusable now. Ought to get a replacement for it…
Doesn't the trackpad differ between the original X1 and the Carbon?
From his wording, it sounds like the drivers work well, but the physical trackpad is the limitation.
I am also looking for a Linux laptop with a good trackpad.
