As a note my PS1 bought on launch still works to this day. Though it has trouble reading games that have even slight scratches on it(read MILF's post for more detail on that).
However, my SNES the dratted port of the power went out on me(common problem I was told). Talk about annoyance. It was a bit older but also less used the PS1.
All consoles can have thier issues. And quite frankly many of them are predictable. Father did not buy the PS1 thinking it would last that long, he expected it to work for a couple years and then need a new replacement. Basically he expected it to need to be maintained like our SNES. I think we had two where the power thing would break and need replaced.
I just view it as Bad-luck;Good-luck for the most part. How much damage they can take should be a moot point unless you got little kids, and even then I don't see the kid taking a sledgehammer to the system(at least I hope not).