It is as described, a large, matte black sheet of, well, something? Plastic? Vinyl? I'm not quite sure. Anyways, it was shipped in a flat box, so it lays perfectly flat on the desk, works with my Logitech laser mouse perfectly (slight amount of drag, not for gamer's, IMO), and very importantly, it doesn't smell!I put 4/5 because it did arrive with a scuff in the surface, but it is right under where my keyboard goes, so I'm not going to worry about it. I didn't dock the star because of THAT scuff though, I docked a star because I'm a little worried that it may be easy to scuff in the future... If it still looks good in a few months, I'll be back to edit the review.Overall, I'm happy with it. I'd recommend it.UPDATE [12-SEP-14]In short: I was able to get rid of the scuff, and the pad looks brand new after 5 months.To add to that: Although the desk pad saw minimal use for a good portion of the summer, as an engineering student I would say I exposed it to above average use/abuse during the semester. After almost 5 months, there are zero signs of wear anywhere on it. I use this as a mouse pad (as pictured), as well as to do assignments on, and neither seem to have caused any noticeable effect on it - there's no wear/friction/rubbing marks from the mouse, nor any impressions/traces of things I had written on it.And speaking of writing on it, I think that may be one of my favorite aspects of it. I for some reason dislike writing straight on to a hard surface, and usually just put a note pad or a few sheets of paper under what I'm writing on to allow the pen to "sink in" a bit. This, however, is JUST soft enough to give that effect of a writing pad, but by no means is there any concern of poking through the paper or anything, it is still a hard surface.I have absolutely no regrets purchasing this, would do so again if ever needed, and would recommend it to anyone.-James