HP Transports IMAX’s Experience Right To Your Lap With New ‘Envy’ Notebook

Watching a movie in IMAX is an experience best enjoyed in a darkened theater with a bucket of popcorn in your hands. Or, in the case of HP’s soon-to-be updated Envy x360 notebooks, right on your lap in the comfort of your own living room.
 
The Envy lineup of personal computers is a series of convertible devices that can turn from a laptop into a tablet and now even into your own movie theater. In addition, the company is working with IMAX to deliver the first IMAX Enhanced-certified PCs. 

The difference between IMAX movies and classic cinema—besides feeling as if you were sitting right in the middle of the film itself—is that the former has an increased ratio of 1.43:1 or 1.90:1, in place of the typical 2.39:1 you would find in a regular screening.

IMAX content is also usually captured on special cameras that can use 70mm film at 15 perforations per frame. And after all that is said and done, it goes through Digital Media Remastering in post-production to transform each frame.
 

With the Envy notebooks, customers will receive an upgraded OLED screen with a taller ratio and DTS:X spatial audio. However, the average IMAX screen is technically around 52 feet high to accommodate the shot ratio. So it will be interesting to see how that will now be downsized into a 15.6-inch laptop that can still emit the same feeling as going out and watching something at the movies. 

In this case, the IMAX certification comes because the laptop can display whatever you view in that special 1.43:1 or 1.90:1 ratio. And as the current Envy x360 has a 16:10 screen, you’ll still get some black bars bracketing whichever Christopher Nolan movie you put on.
 

If you’re wondering what you can watch that has been retrofitted for the screen, only Disney+ content will be available for viewing. On top of visuals, the laptop will receive the same theatrical sound mix for the supported media, but depending on how good Envy’s speakers are, it might not make that much of a difference. 

The upgraded versions of the Envy will reach the market later this month, with the exception of a 17-inch version that is coming in May. The prices for the notebooks will range between US$850 and US$1,150.
 
 
 
[via Engadget and Tom’s Guide, images via various sources]