I think the problem is related to the device, but more to the browser you are using. You've not said which browser on the laptop it is you are using to log on.
If you are using (for example) internet explorer, which has now been deprecated, you will not be able to log into many sites. This happens because the site has been set up so that if it detects a security risk, such as an out of date browser, it will deny you access because of this.
Most sites (like reddit for example) will actually tell you 'access denied due to non supported browser' while some will stupidly ask you for security verification (bad coding), they detect the violation, but don't handle it properly i.e. security request via email which sends you in a loop.
This can also (but less frequently) happen with your OS i.e. they detect Vista (quite rightly) as a non supported out of date operating system and handle the request as described above.
Firstly I would suggest you update your OS. Running Windows Vista (when even Windows7 a younger OS is not longer supported) is not a prudent thing to do. If you can't do that, you could try using a Chrome browser, which is at least supported, but there is still no guarantee that this will work given your OS is still deprecated.
Hope this helps.