They're still much better than A-pods. I still say that nothing is truly pointless, but if I ever mellow out, then the A-pod will be the first thing to cross over for me.
Can't say I've actually tried it, but M-bods seem like they would work better as B-pods than actual B-pods do.
Anyway, there are many weapons that are sub-optimal, but none that are truly pointless. They pretty much all can do SOMETHING. They just might not do it as well as many other weapons. In the case of the MiPL, it isn't 'better' than a machine gun, flamer, ER Small, or small pulse. It is, however, different in some way from all of them.
I've played a few fights recently with a Goshawk II, and while they weren't the best weapons ever, I was able to use the MiPL's and do some useful stuff. Having a pile of them worked well for jumping in behind a tank and trying to park it with crits. Kind of like a laser Cluster weapon. I was also using something else recently, I think maybe a Ti'Tsang, and was wishing for some low-tonnage, low-heat weapons for playing TSM heat games. at only 0.5 tons and one crit, the MiPL's would be a good choice for a weapon meant to fine-tune heat without taking too much away from crits and space for bigger guns.