I'd also really enjoy hearing the answer to this one. The pads seem about one or two millimeters thick. If I end up just using the pads, would I then have to put thermal paste on the underside of the pad? Are there any issues with small irregularities in the pads' surface smoothness? What if the pads got a little bit of dust on them, probably during dis-assembly of the laptop? Does this present an issue? If so, would it be best to just get replacement pads or use thermal paste? Thank for your answer.