I've heard very good reviews for the X1 Carbon. The only cons are: 1)weird keyboard layout 2)low-quality mousepad. Except for that the X1 Carbon seems to be a perfect Linux laptop. My friend's running Arch and it's working like a breeze.
Lenovo often feels tacky if only because of their price constraints but what they offer for the price is usually an astonishingly solid build.
On the Linux compatibility side of things - most issues have work arounds on day one and full compat within a couple of months. I assume this is because of the heavy Linux following behind the think pad series.
As for the trackpad, I'm not a good reviewer. I use the red trackpoint exclusively. My previous laptop (X61t) didn't even have a trackpad. Between the trackpoint and the touch screen, I don't ever use the trackpad.
Want to close a window? Press Fn + Alt + Mute Microphone... WTF?!?!!
At least their ESC key is one of the biggest I've seen, so a big win for viers.