Things get better over time
I was doing some surfing last regarding the tent cities in Sacremento, one in particular looked to be the size of the classic shantytown of decades gone by. Not sure how long ago the story was printed, but I was coming up on a lot of news tags regarding homeless funding cuts across the nation I hadn't heard of.
Made me think when we had entered into it ourselves. Back then I was using really old equipment, nothing like a laptop you'd get nowadays, back then I had to settle for an eBay second hand one, which lasted two years but was really slow.
For about less than twice the cost you can get an iPad or a netbook.
But in the end we all have to deal with the same thing...moisture and batteries that go dead quicker than necessary.
If you're out there today, stay cool and out of the heat.