I'm trying the 2013 RC LMDE ISO on a Z61t Thinkpad, Core Duo T2400 CPU, 3GB RAM. I'm installing from a flash drive (SanDisck Cruzer Fit if it matters) via MultiSystem. I had a previous install that I managed to change a couple of MDM settings that somehow prevented me from logging in, so I killed the install figuring I had everything backed up via Dropbox except my FireFox tabs and those were easily replacable -- all 2 of them.
I also did some updates (first thing I do when I log into my system is updates) and all of a sudden the system won't suspend when the lid is closed. Not only that, but even though I told the system to log me in automatically it refused to. Both issues were frustrating, but I was dealing with them until I changed the settings that prevented me from being able to log in.
Boom, on to the OS reinstall. I haven't done any updates yet, but I'm still having an issue. When I boot up it tells me this about halfway through the loading procedure:
I might be missing a colon or something in there, but that's essentially what it says. This has been ongoing since I first install LMDE. I'll report back after I try the updates and see if I still have the issues with suspending and boot. It doesn't seem to affect anything, but with the login issue I have to wonder.process 203 GLib warning getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown userid (0)
Other than that, my only issue is preferring XFCE for laptops, but I'm finding this rig has enough horsepower to handle Cinnamon without bogging down.
EDIT:
Nothing worked and installs kept eating themselves. Even an older XFCE version wouldn't update, instead XFCE seemed to get uninstalled during the marathon update proceedings, leaving me with a terminal-only install I couldn't work with. Installed XFCE Mint 13 for testing instead. So much for 32-bit LMDE. Will try 64-bit when I have a new CPU in the laptop.