Interesting, were those experiments with traditional layout when motherboard is in the bottom part of the laptop? Maybe we just need to make screen heavy laptops with thin keyboards but with thicker cooling, that could also utilize convection better. Something that you put vertically and open keyboard down, I think some gaming tablets are like this now

You can use a thermal strap to transfer heat through the laptop hinges and in to the top screen area. But then you introduce thermal issues for the screen. LCD/OLEDs are rather heat sensitive.

That is so extremely cool (ha) but boy, that sounds difficult to make reliable through ~100,000 lid open/close cycles. Still, I would love this if it could be made so. I have seen so many horror stories of "I'm using my laptop in my lap on a blanket and blocking all the cooling, why is it so hot?"

Thermal straps exist: https://www.techapps.com/thermal-straps

Used in heavy duty aerospace and industrial applications. 100k lid cycles would be pretty easy.

The displays generate their own heat