This was for a client who only needs the basics — email, typing, web browsing — and doesn't have time to adapt to a trendy new GUI.

So I installed Xubuntu 11.10 (I like XFCE).

And it all just worked out of the box — wifi, webcam, sound etc.

Except for sleep and hibernation.  I tried all sorts of fixes and troubleshooting, but nothing worked.  The screen goes blank, but it doesn't turn off.  After being forced off, it resumes as though sleep or hibernation had worked.  Couldn't solve it, so I just changed the settings to never try to sleep or hibernate.