"My family has seen no issue with my not returning the laptop..., which I agree with" - "Do you think it would be crazy to just email IT and ask if I could buy the laptop off..." - I can't believe I am reading these lovely paragraphs. Please call the company today to return the laptop ASAP.

Related but not exactly the same: workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/177080/…

Somewhat ironic: law.stackexchange.com/questions/80897/… (actually happened to someone)

if the company wanted it, they would follow up you couldn't return it because you were "swamped by school"; don't you think a fully fledged company doesn't "follow up" not because they don't want it anymore, but because they have a lot of other stuff to do too?

@Danielle, When you return the labtop, you could promise your mom that you will buy her a brand new MacBook Pro in the future (either from your intern salary or after graduation) as a gift to show that you appreciate her supporting you during the college years. That will definitely make her happy.

Companies move slow, but the laptop is on some inventory list somewhere and eventually somebody will come looking for it. Do you ever intend to have contact with this company again? Maybe a future job? If so, I would send them a friendly reminder asking them how to return it. If you'll never plan to work for them again, you could wait and see if they come looking for it. However, I definitely wouldn't let any family members use it, it is company property and you probably signed something that it is for your use only. Remind your mom that you are a professional, not a thief.

Does this answer your question? Ex employer has not collected laptop or phone

The amount of self deception is staggering.

The situation you describe is still theft. Contact them ASAP.

Asking to buy the laptop is always possible of course. It never hurts to try. I was able to get the company laptop I had when I left a job. But guaranteed that you would then need to drop by the company for the IT department to delete everything company related on it. They did like a factory reset on mine.

Company laptop is not a simple piece of hardware. It an identified device on the private network and infra. It's not about stealing the item it self. But the Key/login/mac address etc are valuable. There was someone who took 20+years for attacking his company IT using the privilege they forgot to remove. If you get infected andyour computer is in the chain on exploit, you will have big issue. The one that stop you from travelling to a lot of country.

I am confident you knew the answer already, otherwise you would not have posted this in the first place. Perhaps you had a glimpse of hope for an argument from someone that you could not come up with yourself to justify the morally (and legally) wrong decision of keeping the laptop.

I see a lot of comments assuming a lot of things, certainly on the safe side, but still assuming. The answer of this question entirely depends on the company & the contract OP signed, everything else is speculation - certainly with best intents, but still speculation.