I took a leap and used a graphite thermal pad on my last build. Never going back. no paste to muck with and if I upgrade I can reuse it and not make a hellish paste mess.
I adore graphite thermal pads for desktops.
I will never attempt to use graphite thermal pads in a laptop again.
Non-mac laptops.. seem mostly sketchy these days.
If you know of exceptions please do chime in.
The only downside appears to be they're thermally conductive.
I sure hope that the thermal pads are thermally conductive :-)