Other then the Wii, my new consoles seem far less durable then my older ones.
Doing a course on Design and Technology did show me how built in obsolescence can be beneficial (just not to the purchaser of the goods), but it strikes me as odd many units are failing within a couple years when the companies have made it seem they're not looking to make successors for a few times that period.

Of course, that's presuming built in obsolescence is in any way responsible. As Jin mentioned, more components often means more can go wrong and newer consoles are much more complex then the older ones.