Turn on the spot so wives appear back to front on the laptop (6)
I believe the answer is:
swivel
'turn on the spot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'back to front on the laptop' is the wordplay.
'back' becomes 'swive' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to front on' says to take the initial letters (the letter at the front).
The first letter of 'laptop' is 'l'.
'swive'+'l'='SWIVEL'
'so wives appear' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swivel that I've seen before include "swinging" , "Swing on a pivot" , "Spin on the spot" , "something pivotal" , "Turn about a point" .)