(Editor's Note: HP has issued a driver fix for the touchpad issues, though all the problems haven't been resolved)

Don't let its flashy paint job fool you. Underneath its striking chassis, the HP Pavilion dv5-2070us ($849.98 list) is a laptop that's meant to be a day-to-day workhorse. Equipped with an Intel Core i3 processor and a spacious 500GB hard drive, this laptop, available from Staples, doesn't particularly stand out in one area but does a lot of things pretty well. But since HP is marketing this as an entertainment laptop, the lack of a Blu-ray player is disappointing; more troubling is its touchpad issues.

Design
The first thing you notice about the dv5-2070us is its striking, glossy "Black Cherry" chassis. The microchip-like pattern on the lid makes for a very attractive system. But the glossy coating is a magnet for those inevitable fingerprints and smudges. The full-size keyboard is an island-style configuration without a numeric keypad. We found the feedback on the keys to be solid, but we would like to some media controls keys for things like DVD playback on a laptop HP is marketing as an "entertainment notebook."

VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

The system measures 1