Checkpoint-friendly bags allow laptops to be fully visible to security scanners. This scan was taken by Aerovation, which went to the distributor of the X-ray equipment used by TSA and rented its lab. Graphic source: Aerovation
While traveling this summer I noticed all the difficulties people had with their laptops, especially at one of the most secure airports I traveled through: Phoenix. The issue arises once people are required to remove their laptops from their protective cases. Laptops get dropped, damaged, forgotten and even stolen outright. One study by Dell estimated that about 12,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports every week. All you need is for yours to be one of the numbers and its costly.
Presently, the TSA has recognized the importance of the laptop issue and on the market now are five criteria: a designated laptop-only section; a laptop-only section that completely unfolds to lay flat on the X-ray conveyor belt; no metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section; no pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section; and, nothing packed in the laptop-only section other than the computer itself.
There are eight full-featured TSA-approved cases, available now or soon, with pockets and compartments that hold everything from your power adapter and accessories to a change of clothes: Aerovation Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bag, CODi Phantom CT3, Mobile Edge ScanFast Backpack, Pathfinder Wheeled Checkpoint Friendly CompuBrief, Skooba Design Checkthrough, Solo CheckFast Laptop Clamshell, Targus Zip-Thru 15.4" Corporate Traveler Laptop Case, and the Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase.