100% table
 

Is it my imagination or a website at 100% table loads faster than one at 780?

It's your imagination ;)

HaHa yes i believe it is your imagination................And that's quite an imagination you have........

It really depends here, however, fixed width styles tend to render faster because the browser knows more about how the page should look when compared to a dynamic.

Course. a single table with one row and one collumn with no style, will render the same either way ;)