We all know the typical stereotype: " Oh… You’re an intern? Bring me a cup of coffee." Do internships relatively impact the employer’s perspective on the student? What are other more beneficial ways to appear more “experience” to the employer other than having attended internships?
What major/field?
The only way to “appear” more experienced is to be more experienced. As an intern, you are the lowest person on the ladder, and you should assume that the you are going to do a lot of the un-fun tasks that every organization needs done. That is the nature of apprenticeship. It will be more true at the beginning- they have to teach you everything from where the bathroom is to how to do X task- but as you go on you should be able to take on some independent tasks.
As bodangles indicates, the field matters a lot, as does how long you did the internship for and what you learned along the way. In some fields (as diverse as fashion, journalism and politics), it is rare to get a full-time job without having had an internship or three. Simply being in the room, watching / learning / getting coffee / taking notes / etc can be valuable experience, because you are learning the industry, learning how things work, learning the vocabulary of the workplace. For that matter, even just having shown (up on time, consistently and appropriately dressed) over an extended period of time, and gotten along with the rest of the staff has a value to a potential employer 
Be aware that there are internships where your challenge won’t be that ‘all you do’ is get coffee- it will be that you work what amounts to a regular job, for ‘academic credit’ or a pitiful stipend- saving the company from paying full-time wages and benefits. That is illegal, but it happens, and companies can be very creative in finding ways to work around the law.
Getting jobs without any work experience or internships is getting harder and harder, as so many applicants have them.
My S’s internships (business major) did involve doing some busy work, but he also felt that employers wanted to give him some useful experiences. He found that as both internships progressed and his co-workers got to know and trust him that he was given more and more meaningful tasks to do. He also would ask his supervisor if he could do anything to help our. By the end of each of his two internships he had some valuable accomplishments.
It really depends. Unpaid internships really are not very good. They’re not impressive on a resume. It also depends if you’re planning on going to graduate school or not. A lot of internships are geared to help students land a job at that company after they graduate, but with graduate school it’s a little different depending on the program. They can be helpful with grad school admissions, but by time one’s education is finished in this case the company may have “forgotten” a bit.
Internships are invaluable. They teach the intern so many valuable skills that are vital in today’s world. You start at the bottom so you learn all those essential foundation skills that higher level positions are built on. One must crawl before they walk. Competition for them is fierce so start building that brand early by establishing a strong internet presence.
Internships are very important. Coops can be as well. Colleges and universities seem to emphasize these in their advertising for a reason.