Recent experiences:

Bad:
RDU
LAX (Bradley International Terminal)
IAH
HOU

Good:
(Everywhere I went in SE Asia - never even had to remove laptop)
LAX (Terminal 5)

Sidenote:
<Rant>
Dunno about other International carriers, but MH had an annoying as hell requirement that we deplane with All of our handbaggage at TPE (the intermediate stop in the direct flight from KUL to LAX). We then had to go back through security (no prob; fast - no carnival), and then they had a GODAWEFUL queue to have EVERY FRIGGIN BOARDING PASS checked against the PAPER pax manifest. No seperate queue for Business & First Class; slow as hell gate personnel checking against the manifest. And the dude checking transit pax stopped 2 ppl ahead of my wife and myself so he could go help some MORON who had come to the front of the line WITHOUT a BOARDING PASS. Hence we watched as nearly all of the non-transit pax (those who originated in TPE) went through the process; the a-hole who was checking their bp's against the manifest would not alternate transit pax w/ originating pax.

The only reason I bring this up is b/c the bp-check-guy blamed the procedure on US DHS. I have to call BS on that - Tom Ridge NEVER mandated that MH have a counter with a PAPER manifest as opposed to a quick optical scan machine. </Rant>