Just raising it helps some, but in general any newer laptop draws air from below and exhausts it from the sides so a cooler on the bottom doesn’t do a lot for the laptop.

The exception is if you are resting it on a soft surface that could block vents, like your f-ing lap! In that case any of those coolers will make a big difference in both your comfort and the laptop. On a good hard surface that will make very little difference unless your laptop vents are clogged up as others have said.

Anyone want to take one for the team and give is a TL; DW? Or link to something worthwhile that is not a google sheets spreadsheet you have to input 72 variables to determine if you should salvage it?

Yeah, they want to hang around you or at least someone else. At that age they don’t want privacy, they want interaction. Now put a nice exhaust fan in there and your soon to be teenager will probably padlock the door and live down there.