Sony and other "boutique" end laptops come with a lot of junk you need to purge - lately Sonys have been making lower priced models with less bloatware to compete with the designer versions from the larger manufacturer.

Its more likely that you will physically break a business oriented laptop such as a Sony, IBM or Fujitsu than burn out the electronics.

Gaming laptops such as Alienware and Asus also need care - they are designed for max performance rather than longevity and are very likely to burn out. However this is a design feature rather than a flaw - overclocking has a price.

If you want a computer that will almost never break try a Panasonic - their military models can stop a .22 round and still boot up.