IF she is intelligent, and has a shot in the world, this will NOT ruin her relationship with him.
He seemed to posses a mind if he is in the IT business, so hopefully she does too. This is not a bad punishment, this is nothing. If this ruins her relationship with him, then she is a chemically imbalanced lost cause already and he should have started sooner.
If she is capable to be taught the reason behind the actions, she will be perfectly fine.
My parents were made to go rip long solid branches off trees(thin ones though) to be used as switches to beat the hell out of their back ends to the point they could not sit for several hours. They both dearly loved their parents.
I have had my arse split open with a belt. I have had toys I loved dearly stomped and ripped apart because I disobeyed, my brother had his hot wheels turned into flat pieces of plastic/metal. We love our parents dearly.
If she is intelligent, she will be fine. If she is mentally inept, then nothing in the world nor him NOT shooting the laptop would have gave her a better shot in the world.
My father did harsh things, but it made me into a good man, one with values, and respect. And those values are what have earned me high places, and respect in return from people around me.
People today are weak, they are weak in many ways. And that is one of the problems we have.
How is shooting her laptop hurting her? Seriously, explain it to me? Now she has to deal without her access to pornography, to anonymity(which turns people into idiots and cowards), illegal routes to download music, social networking which lessens peopls respect for individualism and privacy more and more.
IF she has a report to do, research that needs done, or a paper to write she can do it at the library. She will remember this lesson for along time, and that is the point.
Hard2gain, you are the first person I have seen yet, out of maybe 80 people that will disagree with his choice. The man is a throwback to the days of Real parenting.