terminator 2: burning questions

ok, in 'terminator 2', it is indicated that in the future, both the risen machines and the revolutionaries have access to the sort of time-travel technology that makes it possible to send a terminator back in time. so refined is this technology that at least one side is able to send a force back to a very specific time -- hence, two opposing, and naked, terminators being birthed from lightining-spheres in random spots in LA at the exact same time. great. i get it.

i know what follows would render the need to make terminator 2 pretty pointless, which would be awful. but still...why not just send one terminator just a little further back in time? this is the obvious comment that will inevitably come up, and yeah, sure. why not? or is that just a waste of a terminator? if john connor only needs protection from, like, bobby budnik and being influenced to smoke weed because he's listening to too much GnR, i guess he can handle that on his own?...so, yeah, if someone's not specifically trying to kill him, this might suggest that yep, arnold's a waste of space. on the flipside, however, why would melted-metal terminator not just go a little further back in time?

what i gleaned from this, then, after much thought, is as follows: the revolutionaries, in the future, will clearly have a better grasp of time travel. not so much perhaps, of cyborgenics (or whatever), but SHIT, if you can time travel, and do so more accurately than a robot that's trying to kill you...you MUST have a leg up. somehow.

i haven't seen t3; frankly, i am hesitant because i know t2 can't be topped, and i don't want to ruin this solid run for myself. i first saw the original terminator when i was 4, and i'm pretty sure that's the reason why i'm an insomniac to this day. i am disclaiming because i really am curious if and how time travel is addressed in post-t2 sequels/fanfic/etc. anyway, time travel inconsistencies aside, holy SHIT i am glad this movie exists. it definitley cuts me to the core.