I had Gnome Shell working perfectly on my desktop, and I tried to install it on my laptop by the exact same method, (tried apt-get, synaptic and software centre), but it won't work. It seems to install fine with no errors. If I select "Gnome" at login, I get the "Gnome Classic" interface rather than Gnome Shell.
My laptop has sufficient specs to run Gnome Shell.
Am I missing something?
EDIT: I have just discovered that under System > Details > Graphics, it says "Unknown". So, Ubuntu hasn't recognised my graphics card, and I'm guessing this is why Gnome Shell can't work. I have a nVidia GeForce GT 525M. How can I get it working?
(as you may have realised, I'm a linux noob)
flgrx
for ATI, andnvidia-common
for Nvidia)lshw
and seeing what driver it lists for your graphics card there.