Well, oddly enough, things have less kinetic energy in hyperspace than in realspace, simply due to the theory of relativity.
As things approach the speed of light, their mass increases. So a MAC round at 2/5 the speed of light has more mass than a MAC round at rest. A lot more mass. So we have a very heavy projectile, which obviously weighs as much, if not more than a few X-wings, which is traveling at over 74,400 miles per second (over 119,800 kilometers per second). And you are telling me that will not hurt a Star Destroyer? Especially when you consider that Star Wars shields don't work against kinetic impacts. It will go right through a Star Destroyer, causing it massive internal damage along the way. Even the Executor will feel an impact like that.
Lasers don't have much in the way of armor penetrating qualities. The longer the beam is sustained, the more armor is melted away. Star Wars lasers are pulse lasers, meaning they don't have much in the way of armor penetrating qualities. The Covenant didn't use pulse lasers as their primary weapons on their big ships because lasers have penetrating problems, and they require lots of energy.
Solid projectiles, on the other hand, have lots of kinetic energy, and they don't start to lose beam cohesion when they hit, like lasers do. A MAC round simply won't stop when it hits armor plating. Oh no, all that kinetic energy will force it forwards, forcing it through the armor, and letting it cause serious internal hull damage. A Marathon will have a nasty first strike if it gets within MAC range, and considering Star Destroyers are big and slow, they will have trouble dodging. That's another advantage to MAC's. They keep going and going until they hit something. Lasers lose cohesion at longer ranges. Solid rounds don't have any beam cohesion to lose. So 75 thousand kilometers is nothing for a MAC round as it will take just over half a second to go that distance. Add in the fact that it can fire and hit from beyond that as Star Destroyers can't dodge and UNSC has a major advantage over the Empire right there.
In Halo, the one thing limiting a MAC's effective range is the fact that ships can dodge it. Covenant are more nimble than the Empire and can dodge MAC's, especially as their plasma torpedoes have a very long engagement range, over 75,000 km. Mass drivers and the like simply don't just stop moving at a certain range in outer space as the only impediments to their movements are a few hydrogen atoms every cubic meter.
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