Windows 8 is not bad for running Bitcoin, it is just bad.
If you want to run full Bitcoin-Qt, it will be painfully slow on a laptop; it works best on a fast PC with a SSD. If you use a light client like Electrum, the speed of your computer doesn't matter so much. If you use a web wallet (not advised), you can use your phone's web browser.
Electrum works on Android too. Never tried it myself but it's supported.