Base R graphics would plot 100,000 points in about 100 milliseconds.
x <- rnorm(100000) plot(x)
x <- rnorm(100000) system.time({ png("file.png") plot(x) dev.off() }) user system elapsed 0.179 0.002 0.180
Base R graphics would plot 100,000 points in about 100 milliseconds.
A quick benchmark with writing to a file: