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"Sooooo, do you want to come 2 hours earlier or so for your flight and stand in line while they test out every electronic gizmo in everyone's luggage and carry on bags?"

I don't see why this would be an issue. Let the laptop/MP3 player/DVD player, etc go through the machine like it normally would, then ask the person to power it on. So long as you get music playing or a display of some sort on the screen, you can be reasonably sure that it's what it appears to be. Lord knows you could probably design some nasty stuff to fit inside of a laptop that looks good when it goes through the machine, but could you do that and have the laptop/DVD player/etc still function? I work on laptops for a living, and I can't begin to think of how to manage that. I'm not saying you have to wait for it to boot all the way up or watch the entirity of Sleepless in Seattle; just make sure it's a functional device and not a plastic shell with bomb parts inside.

I don't see why this would be an issue

It doesn't take long for one person to fire up their laptop, turn on their DVD or MP-3 player, etc., but multiply that short time by the hundreds of people in line and it's gonna bog things down considerably, especially on long distance/overseas flights where practically everyone in line has several electronic gadgets and gizmos.

I already get ticked off to no end by the morons that wait until they get right up to the conveyor belt to lean down and take off their shoes and get their change out of their pockets. I can just imagine what it will be like when you expect even more out of them. "I didn't know I had to take my DVD player out of it's case. I have to turn it on for you, too?!? I can't find where I put my DVDs. Now...where is that on/off switch."