picking a mining laser and refinery

Mining lasers come in 2 sizes, Small and Medium. A mining laser takes up one hardpoint on a ship. The only noticable difference between the two sizes is the speed at which they break off chunks and the power draw. It does not matter which size you get, they both work.

Mining lasers now also come as fixed or turreted. Turreted lasers are used in multicrew, your guer position will have control of them. If you are alone using turreted mining lasers, navigate in your right side menu and switch turret mode to forward fire to use them like normal fixed mining lasers

Refineries
Refineries are a bit more complex. The higher the grade and size of refineries dictate 2 features that are important to keep track of; Bin count and power draw.

Bin count refers to the amount of bins that the refinery has available to store ore to refine. In a simpler sense it dictates how many different types of ore you can be refining at any one time. The best refineries have 10 bins

Power Draw is an important thing to keep in mind. The better the refinery, the more power it takes to run. You need to balance your power usage with bin amount, so your ship doesnt turn off critical modules whenever you try to mine.