hmmm, i cant think of anything off the top of my head thats different about laptops in general..... unless that maybe theyre networked less frequently & maybe have less critical updates...... I myself havent seen RF settings causing BSOD's.... I do know that when I do get a BSOD on XP, it's usually a stop error from hardware, so maybe there's a driver for the wireless device that maybe cant handle something. I know if lw sees 6346 blocked, it'll try at least up to 6348- i wonder if lw scans multiple ports at once looking for the closest open one to 6346, and the transmitter might not like that.
The first thing I'd try is to see if the problem can be duplicated when the laptops are on wired connections. Then maybe borrow & install a different RF card & see what happens. Sorry I dunno what else to tell you at this point.