This is a good reason for not choosing automatic login.

After typing your password, don't press Enter – instead, click the cogwheel on the login screen to choose the environment you want. The default GNOME edition of Ubuntu offers the choice of Wayland or Xorg. The 2022 versions of Ubuntu default to the Wayland display server, but we saw noise and transient bands of corruption on the screen. However, we found that it didn't run smoothly. Enabling fractional scaling in the display settings and dropping it to 175 per cent gives a bit more breathing room 150 per cent, and while things are getting a little small, you begin to appreciate that this is a very high-resolution display.

It registered the high-definition display and defaulted to 200 per cent scaling, which does looks beautifully sharp – but the large text and graphical elements don't leave much room on the machine's 14-inch screen.

Ubuntu 'Kinetic' installed smoothly and picked up all the machine's hardware. We chose the default GNOME edition, as the X1 Carbon has a 16:10 HiDPI (2880×1800), high refresh rate (90Hz), high dynamic range screen, meaning that you will need a desktop environment that supports fractional scaling. Given this cutting-edge kit, we started with the latest Ubuntu, 22.10. This is the kind of fit and finish that running a state-of-the-art professionally written operating system gets you, of course. The whole process took barely a working day. After that, it was a quick visit to Ninite to install some standard apps. Then it was off to the Windows Store to install the couple of dozen outstanding updates hidden in there, which Windows Update doesn't tell you about. After going through the cycle a few times, it claimed there were none outstanding. As usual for Windows, once those were installed and the machine rebooted, there were some more updates. We ran Windows Update immediately, and found a whopping 53 outstanding, including multiple drivers. As you'd expect for a current machine, it came with Windows 11. The model we received is a powerhouse: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1260P, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. Lenovo offered The Reg one to take a look. The X1 Carbon is the thinnest and lightest, and the Gen 10 latest model is Ubuntu certified. Lenovo ThinkPads have long enjoyed a strong following among Linux types, and the Thinkpad X1 is among the most coveted. It's a lovely machine… but with some significant limitations.

Hands-on The Reg FOSS desk took Lenovo's new Intel Alder Lake-powered executive laptop for a spin.

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