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How can I convince my mom to let me buy a laptop?

I really want to buy the new white MacBook. With an education discount and preinstalled iWork, it will be around $990. I wrote out a plan to show my mom that I will have her buy it now but I will pay her back an amount each month to completely buy the laptop myself. (Kind of like a mortgage/installment plan.) My mom says a laptop is unnecessary but I can truthfully say that I am mature and responsible for my age. I am turning 15 in a month and a half and I really want a laptop. Our current desktop (family computer) is a PC and a lot of things mess up on it constantly (me, my brother, and (sometimes) my mom uses it). I'd rather have my own laptop because I will have complete control on it- meaning my brother can't download things constantly and have spyware and Trojans let in. I also want to use it for schoolwork and for media (I'm a big photo/video girl, and Macs are great for that). This is the cheapest MacBook, but still has everything I want as far as memory, features, etc. All of my friends have their own laptops/computers but as my mom pointed out- all of them have either two full-time working parents, or two full-time working divorced parents (where the other parent chips in toward the cost). My mom is widowed and works part-time so we have no other income. At the moment my mom has been thinking of investing in a new TV or car and such and if she has the money to buy that right now, I don't see why she can't shell out a thousand for me to pay back later. Please help me try and convince her! I am being mature and calm while talking to her- and not whining or bringing up "Everybody has one!" Thanks in advance. I forgot to mention that I am a good kid- I get straight As and do my chores. My mom won't get it as a present because she normally spends $200-300 on birthday.

Public Comments

1. First are you getting good grades in school if you are then tell her how you can pay half of it the you might get it for your birthday by the way (happy early 15th birthday)
2. You plan sounds good--I assume you have a part time job of some sort to pay for it. Why don't you save the money to pay for half, let your mother pay for the other half, and then you pay her the rest in installments?