Hi everyone
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to share what I have discovered which may help others with similar touchpad issues.
I have been having similar problems as several others on this forum with the mouse freezing, being unresponsive and having crazy moments where the mouse starts moving uncontrollably on screen even with no physical contact with the machine. After doing every possible software change, driver update, OS reinstall and registry changes, I concluded that this was indeed a hardware problem. After sending my machine back and getting the touchpad replaced, the issue was still present.
My first fix (Which resolved the issue before the touchpad firmware update) was to purchase a protective skin which was basically a screen protector, but for laptop touchpads. My therory was that the touchpad suface was simply too sentivtive for direct touch. This solved my issue completely for the majority of the year.
Now I think I might have discovered the actual cause of the problem. Coincidently I have removed the protector from the touchpad as it was beginning to peel off in the corner and low and behold the touchpad issues returned immediatly. Yesterday however, the battery died and has requried me to remove it from the laptop and run on mains power until the repalcement arrives.
Since running the machine with no battery, I have had absolutley no issues with the touchpad.
(Disclamer: Opening your machine to access the battery may void your warranty. I am not responsible for any issues, damage or invalidated warranties if you open your machine)
This leads me to question if maybe the batteries in some of these models may be interfering with the touchpad or circuty on the motherboard. Hopefully if this post catches the attention of any Acer staff, this could be looked into as when it comes to batteries I think caution is best had.
Not sure if this will be the case with others who have had similar touchpad issues, I do reccomend trying the touchpad protecter method as this was an instant fix.
Hope this helps! :-)