i think that's wat bugged people about the PT or at least one of the things anyways. u never see a soilder without his armor in the OT, so seeing skin under a glove or helment bugs people.
people know already that they're people in armor, not droids.
on the laser subject, as bingo had already said, the armor was made to feed fear into civilians. only the special commando stormies got the pricey durable armor.