What should I get for my next birthday?

So my 18th birthday is coming up and it is special to me because obviously then I'll be a legal adult.

Just for context I live in a very controlled, conservative and traditional household and I've never got to have some of the gifts my peers do, or the same experiences they did. Just yesterday I went on my first college night out and I only got to go out for a couple of hours with three new friends. After that my phone was blowing up with texts and missed calls and before I knew it I was at home being interrogated about what drugs I had took and how much alcohol I had drank (which I didn't do any of those things, I never have, they just don't trust me). When my mother realised that her talk wasn't sinking in she then proceeded to talk me out of living in a shared apartment, listing all the inconvenients, which, she said, "you do not have to experience here at home". My parents use a lot of manipulation techniques very often.

The idea is that they get me something that will hopefully give me more independence. But it has to be subtle because if they sense it then they'll obviously won't buy it. At the moment I would ask for money because that's exactly what I need but I know that if I just ask them that they'll say it's distasteful and will only give me little money. Expensive things are out of the question completely, but they did say that they're willing to splurge a little this year because they're thinking of getting me a mini laptop for note-taking. That is something I absolutely do not need and I feel like is a waste of money because they're looking at ones with dreadful specs, still I don't want to be rude to them and accidentally make them not get me anything at all. I'm hoping they put the money of the laptop (+200$) into something else that will make my life easier as an 18-year-old college student.That's if I don't manage to get the money upfront (which is likely).

TLDR; need a useful gift for my upcoming 18th birthday that is useful for a college student or that will grant me some independence because I live in a controlling and conservative household. Something not so expensive but that can go up to a little more than 200$.

Thanks for reading and sorry if it was too long.