Even in range (at least TW scale) it outperforms the laser rifle. And it does it while drawing less power at a third of the weight, and it's substantially cheaper.
For most of the weapons in this series, you could handwave their superior performance as being particularly high end and expensive arms. You can't in this case. It's a better performer than a substantial number of more expensive options, even the clan tech ER Pistol, which is two tech levels more advanced and 150 cbills (base cost) more expensive can't really compete with it in anything except weight.
(also something I've noticed is that the writer tends to give his weapons much higher short range brackets than standard weapons in the core book, so even if their maximum range is comparable to a pre-existing weapon, their TW range tends to be better, sometimes significantly better. Just wait 'till Daryk gets to the L-15 carbine)
I think it wouldn't bother me so much if it actually was "hot running", IE, using substantially more power. At least four or five points (not an energy hog like the nova, but still closer to what you'd expect a virtual laser rifle to have)
