I have an Thinkpad T430 and everything works smooth with Mate.
Its just one thing that annoys me abit and i guess it is a easy fix to it but i dont have the skills unfortuentley.
Anyway the issue is that the key "Fn + F8 & F9" is adjusting the brightness of the screen, it works, but it goes maximum to 85% and not 100%. If i go to power management i can adjust it up to 100%.
Any fix for this ? :smiley 
Thanks!