Well, most laptops are valuable items whether in monetary terms or not.
A better solution, and one I assumed they would do, would be a removable padded laptop sleeve. Then you can have it all.
But still, why bother with an ultralight pack at all of you're going to be carting laptops around or day hiking.
Most laptop packs don't have the features we like in a hiking pack, like some kind of mesh on the front and decent bottle pockets (like without compression straps across them, the existence of which baffles me every day). And for a commuting pack, all you probably really want is a spot for your laptop, some volume for extras (packed lunch, bike helmet, etc.) and perhaps some weather resistance...
For my personal use the mesh sleeve with padding against the back and an offset from the ground is enough protection, so I'd be happy with that. If I put items with sharp corners in the pack, I can make sure there's soft stuff between them and the laptop or figure out some other way. Like
@turkeyphant was saying, you can always add your own sleeve for commuting when you care less about weight.
Again I think this pack tries to be good for both uses, but is perfect for neither. It doesn't have 360 laptop protection: not perfect for commuting. It's not the most ultralight day hiking pack: not perfect for hiking. Some people are happy with the compromises in order to have one bag instead of two.
By the way, I think you can add a custom option of the laptop sleeve (not padded) on an Atom: that way you don't have the padded back when you don't want it (hiking) but you do (by using your own laptop sleeve) when you commute.
Either way, it's perfectly fine if this is not the right pack for you, but it doesn't mean it's a worthless design.