> at full load my P53’s CPU runs at ~90°C, regardless of the cooling, regardless of positioning. It never runs any hotter than that, which I presume is because that’s the point at which it’s throttled.

Shouldn't the author be measuring whether the amount of throttling changes when on the stand? The stand could be causing a significant improvement without fully eliminating the throttling (which would be needed to see a temperature drop as the author expected).