Boundary layers mesh

Hello all,

My main question is related to "Boundary layers" in meshing for laminar flow physics?
As I understand, Boundary layers are needed when we got a high velocity gradient touching our moving surface. This is the case for turblent flow. But, for laminar flow, why do we need boundary layers in the mesh ?
Does the automatic generation of boundary layers by COMSOL mesher means that we need the these layers for our simulations or I could simply remove it from my mesh?

Thanks in advance
Regards,
Mohamed