Back around the first of the year when the new AOL AIM client for Mac OS X was released, I was impressed with the host of features it supported. That is, until I actually started using it full time. If you want to see something ugly, open the terminal window and check CPU usage with AIM running.
I know iChat is just around the bend, and I’ve certainly been impressed with what I’ve seen previewed. But for everyday use, Adium can’t be beat.
This lean, mean, Cocoa client looks great and my TiBook hardly knows it’s there. I particularly like the font rendering and the tabbed interface.
One of my coworkers commented that he had to turn off the sound on his iBook because the various bird noises emitting from the client drove him crazy. Funny thing, I was just about to say how cool I thought they were.
Been using Proteus for now
I've been using Proteus (http://www.indigofield.com/) simply because it was the first client I happened to find. I was amazed that it was able to find the settings I had for my AIM client on my windows machine -- they were pretty buried in directories I'd copied over to the iBook. It didn't pick up the hierarchies in my buddy list (nor my carefully crafted buddy icon), but otherwise it snagged everything. What few bobbles I've had are probably attributable to being a new Mac user, but otherwise I've been impressed with how easy the IM transition has been.
Adium rox!
I use Adium on my Pismo and it rawks! I love the tabs, and everything about it. Very low on memory consumption and very customizable.