PDFTeX Compile Time

Question

If I have a simple A4 document with text only (no images) and only 5 pages, how long should I expect to compile with pdftex file.tex?

I haven't installed TeXLive yet as I am not sure if it is worth it.

Using online LaTeX to PDF services, it usually takes them a few seconds.

Can I expect to compile to PDF on my own system to take much longer? (as my system is likely weaker than their system, but they probably have many more concurrent compiles)

Let's say my system is Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz x4

Answer 1

It should take a couple of seconds, with probably no noticeable difference with what servers might provide (you're only talking about a text-only, 5-page document).

The following 102-page document compiles in about 3 seconds (an on Acer laptop, 1.7GHz, 8GB RAM, running Windows 10):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\sloppy
\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]
\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]
\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]\lipsum[1-50]

\end{document}

As mentioned in elsewhere, there might also be techniques to speed up your compilation. It depends heavily on what type of content you have, but it shouldn't make much difference if you're just typesetting text.