When XMPP was quite widespread and lots of my friends used it Pidgin was my trusted software. I'm very happy it's still being maintained and to see lots of plugin for new IM protocols/services (Telegram for instance).
It's a pity that the font on the new website is too thin for me and very hard to read :\
I wouldn't recommend any Thinkpad of the xx40 series because of the dreadful trackpad/clickpad. It might not be a dealbreaker for you but it's indeed a downside to consider given how unusable it is. A lot of people actually replace it with a xx50 trackpad.
If I remember correctly the state of the documentation was subpar too.