Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Lenovo Thinkpad x230

Lenovo x230 Notebook with packaging and new battery, running Windows 10.

I recently bought a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad x230, which came with Windows 10.

Of course I had to install Linux.

Technical data

List of technical details regarding my x230. There are different models out there, which differ in CPU, memory, display-specs and extra components (card-readers, fingerprint-readers, disk drivers, UMTS-radios, etc.).

Lenovo Thinkpad x230
Lenovo x230 Notebook	CPU	Intel Core i5-3320M (2.60 GHz, 3MB Cache)
	Chipset	Intel QM77 Express
	BIOS	--
	Memory	8 GB RAM PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3
	Graphics	Intel HD 4000
	Display	1366x768, LED backlight
	Harddisk	256 GB SSD
	Connections	1x Audio-In/Out kombiniert miniDisplayport VGA 2x USB 3.0 1x USB 2.0 powered Gigabit-Ethernet, Intel

Installation: Things which...

...work out of the box

Downright boring. Installation of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Desktop 64 bit from an USB-stick. Everything obvious (graphics, touchpad, display, WiFi) works right out of the box.

...work with tweaking

Despite ordering a new 48 Wh replacement battery from Sanyo, the laptop drains a full battery quite fast if running Ubuntu 16.04 (as most Linux distros do without power optimization).

Checking the battery with

upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0

reveals, that the battery is OK as advertised.

See http://thinkwiki.de/TLP_-_Linux_Stromsparen (in german, but it is only about TLP) for some hints specifically geared towards Thinkpads:

tl;dr:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tp-smapi-dkms acpi-call-dkms
service tlp start

See how this improves runtime.

...don't work

Nothing significant yet.

The Thinkpad special key -but who cares.

Recommendation

Buy. New Ultrabooks are probably thinner and may have full-HD-screens but cost 3x the money of this system. The only advantage may be a longer runtime due to the low-power CPUs (which are not really faster than the > 3 year old CPU of this machine.