do you know how well other thinkpads work with ArchLinux? I'm looking into x230, X1 carbon, and T430s

I think they should be all fine. Here's some others' info about it, partly from the (excellent) Arch Wiki, and from a blog:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ThinkPad_X230 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X1 http://blog.burntsushi.net/lenovo-thinkpad-t430-archlinux