# clear composer cache 

rm ~/.composer/cache/*
rm vendor/*
rm composer.lock

php composer.phar install # 4 minutes 36 seconds

# clear composer cache 

rm ~/.composer/cache/*
rm vendor/*
rm composer.lock

hhvm composer.phar install # 3 minutes 18 seconds

php composer.phar update # 2 minutes 35 seconds

hhvm composer.phar update # 0 minutes 56 seconds


My composer.json: default laravel 4.1 with some third party packages:

{
	"name": "laravel/laravel",
	"description": "The Laravel Framework.",
	"keywords": ["framework", "laravel"],
	"license": "MIT",
	"require": {
		"laravel/framework": "4.1.*",
        "way/generators": "dev-master",
        "barryvdh/laravel-ide-helper": "1.*",
        "symfony/yaml": "2.4.*",
        "symfony/dom-crawler": "2.4.*",
        "phpunit/phpunit": "3.7.*"
	},
	"autoload": {
		"classmap": [
			"app/commands",
			"app/controllers",
			"app/models",
			"app/database/migrations",
			"app/database/seeds",
			"app/tests/TestCase.php"
		]
	},
	"scripts": {
		"post-install-cmd": [
			"php artisan optimize"
		],
        "post-update-cmd": [
            "php artisan ide-helper:generate",
            "php artisan clear-compiled",
            "php artisan optimize"
        ],
		"post-create-project-cmd": [
			"php artisan key:generate"
		]
	},
	"config": {
		"preferred-install": "dist"
	},
	"minimum-stability": "dev"
}