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• MobileEdge ScanFast Checkpoint Friendly Backpack
• The Good: Lifetime warranty, sturdy, tons of useful pockets, rubber top handle for easy hoisting, and you don't have to remove your laptop for airport security
• The Bad: Had trouble getting it to feel balanced on my shoulders. Large laptops don't carry as well as they could (for shorter users, at least)
• The Verdict: For frequent air travellers, at $99 (U.S.), ScanFast is a wonderful thing. However, people under about 5 foot 8 may find it a bit uncomfortable in backpack mode when fully laden if they have a widescreen computer. MobileEdge is about to release a ladies model that may fit better for the less tall among us

The trip through security is one of the biggest hassles of flying these days. As well as divesting yourself of various items of clothing as you shuffle down the line toward the scanner, you have to juggle your laptop so it can be put through the X-ray machine on its own.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) decided there had to be a better way, and issued a series of guidelines to bag manufacturers. If laptop bags could be made to meet the criteria (which permit a clear X-ray image of the machine from within its bag), travellers wouldn't have to remove laptop from bag. Not only would this speed up security lines, it would lessen the risk of damaging computers bobbled by overburdened travellers.

Bag manufacturers rose to the challenge. One of the first units to hit the market comes from MobileEdge, which has released three checkpoint-friendly bags: a briefcase, a messenger bag and a backpack, all branded ScanFast.

We road-tested a ScanFast backpack on a recent U.S. trip, both to see how the bag performed, and how airport security would handle it.

TSA screeners in Los Angeles were aware of the new rules around the bags, and screeners at Pearson in Toronto, although unaware of them (they are, after all, U.S. rules), were curious enough to give it a try (it helped that they weren't busy at the time). Both sides of the border were able to get clear images of the safely contained laptop. I simply unzipped the laptop compartment, with the machine still snuggled into its pocket, laid the bag out flat, and put it on the conveyor. At the other end, a quick fold and zip, and I was ready to go.

Now, about the bag itself.

The ScanFast backpack is made of black ballistic nylon (a fashion statement it's not), with sturdy straps and a rubber-encased handle on top to make carrying as painless as possible. Outside, it measures 19 inches high by 16 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep – a bit taller than a typical backpack, but similar in size to others that can handle laptops with 17-inch screens.

Two padded full-height compartments split the body of the bag. The rear one is for your laptop, and the laptop must be the only thing contained in it – no cables or anything else that could obscure the X-ray image. When you arrive at airport security, you undo the compartment's zipper and the bag opens out flat for scanning, with the laptop safely in a pocket secured by a Velcro strap.

The second full-height compartment contains a zippered mesh pocket for miscellaneous bits and pieces, a pocket for files, and room left over for a sweater or other odds and ends. The generous padding makes stuffing things into it a bit problematic, and the file pocket tends to catch things it shouldn't, but the compartment does hold a decent amount once you get the cargo loaded.

There are three smaller compartments on the front. The top one has a gasket that lets your iPod headphones emerge while the device itself is safely contained. It extends the full height of the backpack, and contains a zippered mesh pocket at the top that's the right size for an MP3 player. The rest of the compartment would hold slim things like magazines. The second compartment is the right size to hold a pocket pack of tissues or some small snacks, and the third is an organizer with cellphone pocket and pen slots; it's big enough to also hold your airplane reading. There's also a mesh cellphone pocket on one strap, though it's a bit skinny for the average smart phone.

A mesh pocket for a water bottle is concealed in the side of the bag.

The whole works fits comfortably under an airplane seat.

Carrying the beast in backpack mode wasn't as pleasant for me as it could have been. Because it holds the laptop lengthwise, and mine is a widescreen model, the rigid machine tended to make the pack sit straight up instead of accommodating the curve of my back; taller people should not have this issue. It also took considerable fiddling with straps to make it feel balanced. I had to keep reaching back over my head and hoisting it up by its top handle to make it sit better.

Carrying it by its top handle, on the other hand, was made comfortable by that fat rubber handle; many other backpacks only offer a nylon loop, which can cut into fingers if the pack is heavily laden.

As backpacks go, this is a decent unit, all told, although a bit uncomfortable for the vertically challenged when there's a computer inside. The pockets are well thought-out, cargo capacity is considerable, and the ScanFast features made getting through airport security a breeze.