[mcpackieh]

Braided USB cables are robust in my experience, you might try those. With respect to DC barrel jacks, it's a mixed bag. My old ASUS Eeepc had the barrel jack get loose and make poor connections after about a year or two and I've heard others say they had the same sort of problem. On the other hand I've never seen nor heard of a thinkpad's DC barrel jack failing in any way. Those have a tight snap fit even after 15+ years of rough use.

I hate to blame the user, but if all cables are failing then maybe you're being too rough with them? I hate to suggest that because I've had cables fail despite receiving no abuse; Apple's old magsafe cables were notorious for this and the fanboys even more notorious for always blaming the user. It's possible you've had bad luck with cables and weren't mistreating any of them. It has been my experience that some cables deteriorate despite not being abused, but other cables put up with a lot of abuse.

[lallysingh]

A common failure mode is charging the device on the bed. The bed pushes up against the connector and stresses it over time.

[mcpackieh]

Absolutely. I believe I've lost an audio port to this effect before; the plug for my old headphones was large and long, giving it a lot of leverage when I left my laptop on a cushioned ottoman. The plug/cable itself was fine but that port became unreliable after a while and eventually failed completely. Lesson learned, I always put a hardcover coffee table book between laptops and cushions now.

[causality0]

I stand by my opinion that the rectangular ThinkPad power connector is the finest power connector ever made. I have never had one get loose or wear out in any way, nor do they flatten out if you accidentally step on them as has happened with some of my type c connectors.