I had a 2010 MBP and the magsafe stopped power cord tripping. That wasn't what killed it though. There ate numerous millions of other ways to kill a notebook.

Buying a machine that can survive relatively extreme drops and liquid incursion (for me a ThinkPad) covers way more possibilities than a magsafe cable. In fact I've fallen over the cable and pulled it off the table a few times and it doesn't suffer any damage. I think the wrong end of the problem is saved with the cable design.