I never liked beam lasers, personally. Too much power drain and constant lock on needed. I hear they are great at draining shields, but meh. I think they are more powerful, providing you can keep a sustained lock on. You'll need 4 pips in weapons to properly use them, as their power drain is ridiculous. Pulse lasers are great at needling someone down....and then there's the bath of my multicannon spray.
Something I've learned...sys pips. 1 gives 1% shield str, 2 gives 2.5%, 3 gives 30%, 4 gives 150%. If anyone was wondering about the numbers. Unless your shields need recharging, sys pips are worthless unless you go full on.
I like the pulse lasers. Pew pew.