I disagree, not that it will change your opinion. I've seen Laser Riflemen kill dropsuits within a second, even without continous fire. I'm not sure how they do it, because I have so far been unable to replicate the results, but it is pretty good proof to me that Laser Rifles have a massive potential for being overpowered. As do Assault Rifles and HAVs (yes, I admit it, but they are not the only offender here). When I used the Laser Rifle myself, without any special skills, it seemed a fair weapon. Not underpowered, not overpowered. It worked nicely at longer ranges, though at extreme ranges the beam just stopped at a certain point. Even with skills and damage modifiers being taken into account, I'm not sure how the Laser Rifle becomes overpowered, but it does.

The best way to find something's weakness is to use it.
Lasers dominate a very narrow niche, and you can take advantage of that.

The best thing to do is probably sneak into CQC (don't sprint through an open area- that's just stupid), or simply snipe them.
I've learned as a sniper that laser rifles are fairly vulnerable to sniper fire, since they can't be sneaky, and must expose themselves to safely heat the rifle.