Well, this is somewhat disappointing… I recently acquired a Samsung Series 5 530U3B Ultrabook which is really nice and was going to make my main laptop for on the work on the go. Unfortunately it supplies insufficient power to my USBTinyISP programmer. The effect is that when I try to program ATTiny45, I get this error:
Binary sketch size: 2,752 bytes (of a 4,096 byte maximum) avrdude: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x0040 0x02 != 0x36 avrdude: verification error; content mismatch
The verification fails on random memory addresses. This means that I will need to add an external power supply to my custom programmer or find a USB hub with external power supply. I think that the latter will be the easiest.
Hmmm. How much does the USBtiny take? 100mA maybe. USB standard says 500mA should still be OK. I’ve seen laptops that can’t power external 2.5” discs, but a tiny programmer shouldn’t overwhelm even a sub-standard usb port. Are you sure this laptop isn’t faulty?
As you’ve just mentioned it, it does look weird. Also, the laptop was producing A LOT of heat underneath just by watching full HD videos. I had to return it, because I just couldn’t bare it.