Acer is one of a few different brands that are making Chromebooks, and this week it just announced the Chromebook Plus Enterprise 514 and the Chromebook Plus Enterprise 714, two new laptops that were designed to offer long battery life and premium experiences for users.

Acer says both are “priced in quantities for commercial customers,” which sounds like you need to buy multiple units if you’re a business, but you might end up getting a discount for buying more. The Enterprise 514 is available already, while the Enterprise 714 model isn’t shipping until Q4 of this year. Both Chromebooks are being positioned as premium offerings, and the prices certainly reflect that.

The Acer Chromebook Plus Enterprise 714 starts at $1,499.99

Anyone looking at that $1,499.99 price tag and thinking, “Why so expensive?” That’s an understandable reaction. A $1,499.99 price tag is a lot for a Chromebook. You can definitely do a lot with a Chromebook these days, but there’s still a lot you can’t do as well. It’s also worth remembering that this is the starting price, which means there are configurations that will cost more. On top of this, commercial customers looking to grab this or the Enterprise 514 model will probably have to buy several units.

Customers who opt for the latter model will be looking at a starting price of $1,099.99. This is the model that was available this week. When it comes to the Chromebook Plus Enterprise 714, the cost is up there with Google’s original top-end Chromebook Pixel, which had a retail price of $1,449.99. That potentially makes this the most expensive Chromebook to date, but this one from Acer certainly has better specs. However, customers should ask themselves whether or not the specs are really worth the price.

ASUS makes a Chromebook Plus with the same specs for half the price

Acer’s two new Chromebooks come with some decent specs. With that in mind, it would be easy to dismiss the price tag of each as worth it, given the hardware. However, ASUS actually makes a Chromebook Plus model called the ExpertBook CX54, and it has almost all the same specs. In fact, one of the only differences is the display. Both models from Acer come with a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 display. The ExpertBook CX54 has a 14-inch display as well, but its resolution is higher at 2560 x 1600.

The rest of the tech specs vary, with ASUS coming out on top in some key areas. The base model from ASUS comes with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB of storage (this is less than Acer’s two new laptops). It also runs on Intel’s Core Ultra 5 115U processor, which is what both laptops from Acer are using. Also worth noting is that the Enterprise 514 model with the Core Ultra 5 CPU is the mid-tier model, and it’s priced at $1,249.99. So the $1,099.99 model comes with an even lower-tier CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 3 100U. ASUS also offers a larger battery at 63Wh compared to 53Wh on these laptops. So, the ExpertBook CX54 could very well last longer.

All of this is to say that for a very similar laptop experience, ASUS has something on offer for a lot less money. The ExpertBook CX54 retails for $699.99, and it’s even on sale for $579.99 right now. You get less RAM and storage, but everything else is right on par. That being said, Acer’s laptops are newer and seem to have better webcams.

The post Acer's new Chromebook is almost an entire month's rent appeared first on Android Headlines.

Google Chrome is generally thought of as a pretty safe browser to use, but that doesn’t make it an impenetrable fortress, and a Chrome exploit used to distribute malware is the latest proof of that. A zero-day is an exploit that, once discovered, is immediately used to attack an entity or other users. This gives the company that makes the software that contains the exploit zero days to prepare for its malicious use. Instead, they’re forced to work on patching the previously unknown vulnerability after the fact.

According to a report from Bleeping Computer, a zero-day was recently used to target a variety of entities by distributing malware. Reported targets include Russian media outlets, educational institutions, and financial institutions. The malware, known as ‘Dante,’ is said to be a piece of commercial spyware. It was also reportedly created by Memento Labs, an Italian company formerly known as Hacker Team.

The Chrome exploit that was distributing malware was discovered by Kaspersky

Dante was initially discovered back in March of this year, as malware used as part of an attack called Operation ForumTroll that targeted Russian organizations. However, it wasn’t until recently that Kaspersky shared more intricate details of the malware and its inner workings.

As noted by Kaspersky, the initial point of infection from this malware occurred when users clicked a link in a phishing email. Once at the malicious website, the victims were “verified” and then the exploit was executed.

According to reports, these phishing emails were sending out invites to Russian organizations to attend the Primakov Readings forum.

Kaspersky further details that the Dante software, as well as other tools used in Operation ForumTroll, were developed by Memento Labs, linking the company to these attacks in some form. It’s worth noting that this company isn’t 100% confirmed to be behind the attacks. As noted by Bleeping Computer, there is a possibility that someone else was behind the zero-day attack and distribution of the malware.

The post 'Dante' Malware reportedly targeted Chrome users through zero-day exploit appeared first on Android Headlines.