^ and if that little electric motor goes out, you're hot with no way to get home more than a mile at a time. That little fan may move a lot of air, but it's only directly in front of the blades. A properly setup clutch fan with the correct shroud pulls air through the entire radiator.
I prefer a serpentine setup with an extra belt
Has your buddy with "quite a bit more grunt" done any tests or is this butt-dyno only? They're unreliable and affected a great deal by how much money was just spent on the vehicle.
Once up to speed, the clutch fan pulls nearly zero from the engine. The water pump actually pulls a good bit more...