The only difference I can image is the wireless/bluetooth device in my laptop.
I tried doing some googling but keep finding unrelated bluetooth problems with specific devices which I doubt this is (since it worked on the other laptop) How to Manually Update Your Atheros Device: Built-in Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 + HS Adapter drivers should be included within your Windows Operating System and can also available through a Windows update.
This made it work but only until the next reboot when they dissapeared again. I tried removing the headphones at the settings mentioned above and re-pairing it.I checked if the headphones are still paired, and yes they are (under the metro PC settings -> PC and Devices -> Bluetooth), but I can't do anything but remove it there.I checked if all devices are being displayed, they are (show disabled and disconnected devices are ticked).The headphones are gone from the list of playback devices. The headset was listed under playback devices and immediatly set as default playback device. On my new laptop I went through the same process, paired the headphones with Windows and it connected and played right away without any issues. This worked perfectly (and is actually the only new feature I really like in Windows 8). To connect it you simply right click and hit connect. On my previous laptop I simply paired the headphones with Windows and it was always displayed under my audio playback devices, whether it was connected or not. I have the Sennheiser PXC 360 BT headphones and a new laptop with Windows 8.