It's impossible to tell what level of damage will be caused by a power surge. Minor surges occur every few hours and will do absolutely nothing. Equipment is built to withstand that kind of thing. Then again, a major power spike could kill the whole laptop.
Bit OTT there mate? A good surge protector sourced from a decent brand will give the majority of protection that is needed in the home. I doubt any consumer surge protector would protect against lightning strikes. But I don't think that is what the OP is really looking for!
Those other surges (as you noted) are really nothing more than noise. Long before the PC existed, electronics were designed to withstand 600 volts surges without damage. Today, that numbers is above 1000 volts. IOW the only purpose of a protector is so that lightning (and other major) surge are made completely irrelevant.
Names such as Belkin, Monster etc are not reputable names. Their only reason for credibility is sales propaganda. To further promote a myth, those protectors may be so grossly undersized as to fail during a surge too small to overwhelm protection already inside the computer. That protector failure during a tiny (irrelevant) surge gets a majority to recommend it.
An effective protector means nobody knows a surge even existed. That means the protector even remains functional after a direct lightning strike.
Those who know only by feelings will deny it. So the numbers. A typical lightning strike is 20,000 amps. Therefore a minimally sized 'whole house' protector starts at 50,000 amps. Why? Because effective protectors make even direct lightning strikes irrelevant. And because effective protectors must remains functional after that surge.
Posted is not popular when a majority have only learned from advertising. But BT was doing it even 100 years ago. Operators, with headsets connected to overhead wires all over town, need not disconnect and leave the room during every thunderstorm. Protection has always been about making even direct lightning strikes irrelevant.
Plug-in protectors are about selling a £2 power board with some 5p protector parts for how much? At what point does the profit margin get called obscene? And yet so many call that a reputable company rather than learn how protection always worked even 100 years ago.
A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. That has never changed. No plug-in solution has that dedicated earthing wire. Will not even discuss it. Otherwise obscene profits might be at risk.