After some trial and error, I found that the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro had two issues running Ubuntu and its derivatives.
First, the keyboard doesn't work right away at the login screen because the virtual i8042 keyboard controller implemented in the BIOS is not properly delivering interrupts when the keyboard sends three bytes (fa ab 83) in a too quick succession. Adding i8042.dumbkbd kernel parameter fixes the issue.
Second, Panel Self Refresh (PSR), a power saving feature used by Intel iGPUs is known to cause flickering. A temporary solution is to disable this feature using the kernel parameter i915.enable_psr=0.
Third, Some NVMe devices may exhibit issues related to power saving (APST). This happens on ADATA SX6000LNP 1TB. As a workaround, add the kernel parameter nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 to completely disable APST.
So, we need to add i8042.dumbkbd, i915.enable_psr=0 and nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 kernel boot parameters in order to run Ubuntu properly. Follow the instructions in this link for how to add kernel boot parameters.
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel® Core™ i7-11370H 4c/8t @ 3.3GHz ~ 4.8GHz |
| GPU | Intel Iris® Xe Graphics |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR4x-4266 soldered memory, not upgradable |
| Storage | ADATA SX6000LNP 1TB M.2 2280 SSD PCIe® NVMe®, PCIe 3.0 x4 |
| Display | 14.0" 2.8K QWXGA+ (2880x1800) Multitouch IPS 400 nits Glossy 16:10 100% sRGB 90Hz |
| Camera | IR & 720p hybrid, with ToF sensor, fixed focus |
| Battery | Integrated Li-Polymer 61Wh battery, supports Rapid Charge (charge up to 80% in 1hr) |