Why doesn't the text editor
provide more layout features and images?

To be honest web based text editors are a pain. Text editors in web browsers are not good at doing layout stuff. Trying to arrange an image at the right size in the right place, with a neat caption, and maybe a link is a fiddly and time consuming thing to do.

Section templates are a much better way forward. The built in freestyle, gallery and HTML templates suit most jobs most of the time, but if you need something a little different, maybe a news intro with it's own neat design, then a custom section template can be built for the job.

Once that's done you can use your 'News intro' template on any page, and mix and match it with other templates. Every time you use the template it will be pixel perfect and you don't have to think about layout.