When I flew last summer they did not need me to remove my laptop from its bag (just a neoprene sleeve thing). But after they xrayed my carryon bag, they waved me to the side to open it and went through everything. Have to admit, on the picture they showed me on the screen it did look suspicious.
If you don't want 'em to open your bag, put your cables, chargers, headphones in neatly. Mine were just thrown in, looked like a spiderweb of cables on the x-ray. Apparently they thought I must have rigged my bag as a bomb.
On another flight about 8 years ago, coming into the us they pulled me over for a "random" open all your bags and crap. Cannot help it that I was wearing black boots, black leather pants, black long leather coat, and shoulder long hair. Seriously? If I was a terrorist, would i have been dumb enough to stand out like a sore thumb? Sometimes you wonder how paranoid everything got after 9-11.