Switched from a cheap wood one to iron about two years ago and honestly I still think wood gets a bad rap, it just has to be a good hardwood press with thick plates, not the flimsy basswood ones most people start with. My old maple press actually did fine on 4 to 6 sheet signatures, it was only when I went to 8+ sheets that things got lumpy because the plates would bow in the middle. Iron does clamp more even, mine's around 40 pounds, but a lot of what you paid for is just the flatness and staying flat over time, wood can warp if your garage gets humid. So yeah, iron is nice, but idk if it's the only reason your journals lay flat, the six months of practice folding probably helped too.

The "pads were enough" thing is wild because pads only work if the gap is exactly right for the pad thickness, which almost never happens on a laptop. I remember reading a writeup from a repair guy who tested bare metal vs paste on a few old ThinkPads and the bare one throttled hard within minutes, like 30C+ hotter. Metal on metal looks like it touches but there are tiny air gaps everywhere and air is a terrible heat mover. Also no idea why a tech would say paste makes a mess, its like the whole point is to fill the gap. Good on you for catching it before that Dell cooked itself.