Or blow it out. That is usually the solution to heat sinks on the microprocessor clogging with dust and the mP overheating. Assuming it didn't fry altogether. Usually that is a gradual process, and you notice more frequent crashes, and loud fan noises on hot days, etc.
Another frequent cause of death among laptops is cracked solder joints in the ram socket pins from flexing over time. Also cracks in the solder joints of the power connector -- also from flexing.
One nice one (if you know about it) is the wearing out of the RTC battery -- at least in older laptops. It's a small disk shaped battery with pigtail plug -- a few dollars to replace, but when they go, the laptop often just posts an error message number and that's it.
Since fatiguing and cracked solder joints is such a common occurrence, you can lengthen the life of a new laptop considerably, by using two hands instead of one to pick it up, and supporting it well when using, etc.