Klen

What is best when it comes to usability and speed on site to create tables and anything similar to tables?
Since you can use 4 different ways to accomplish same thing.When it comes to classic html tables code,that is easiest to create and you can also add css tag which allows instant changes like color,size and similar.
But some people claim how it's better to use div because then site loading is faster since size of code is smaller.
Is it really necessary to use div code?
Or maybe we can use simple p or li code to make what we want?
For example,what i want to do,is four pictures(thumbs)in row,to have a description text under each picture,and to be able to change instantly alignment,left/center/right.
Another thing which should be instantly changed when needed,is to be able to change number of pictures without having a layout corrupted ,so you simply change one number instead changing entire code to get desired result.

Which method do you use ?