Whirlybird, I have to second the idea of getting a mac. An iMac sounds like just what you need. They all come with CD writers, I use X-plane as a flight sim which is excellent and will run fine on the new G4 imac. Apple make uploading photos from a digital camera extrmemly easy and it doesn't require any addition software. Email and internet are also extremely easy to configure (in fact, if you have LAN, ADSL, Cable, DLS or airport [wifi] connection, it will configure itself for you).
There are also quite a few distribtions of linux now that will run on a mac if you don't fancy using the mac os interface. Last time I looked, you could get an imac for under £1,000. Failing that, you could also get an eMac. They're not quite a pretty as the imac (they resemble more the older CRT imacs) but they do the job fine, are just as easy to set up as the imac and the newer G4 eMacs are surprisingly powerful for what they are and what you pay for them (i think you can get one for around £800). Feel free to PM me if you want more info.