diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ee66a7b..b243163 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 ### New features
 
-* Enable `linum-mode` by default. Can be disabled by setting `prelude-minimalistic-ui` to `nil`.
+* Enable `nlinum-mode` by default. Can be disabled by setting `prelude-minimalistic-ui` to `nil`.
 
 ### Changes
 
diff --git a/core/prelude-packages.el b/core/prelude-packages.el
index 7bdaffa..7fb366c 100644
--- a/core/prelude-packages.el
+++ b/core/prelude-packages.el
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
     projectile
     magit
     move-text
+    nlinum
     operate-on-number
     smartparens
     smartrep
diff --git a/core/prelude-ui.el b/core/prelude-ui.el
index 7c97f6b..4b9b31a 100644
--- a/core/prelude-ui.el
+++ b/core/prelude-ui.el
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@
 
 ;; show line numbers at the beginning of each line
 (unless prelude-minimalistic-ui
-  (linum-mode))
+  ;; there's a built-in linum-mode, but we're using
+  ;; nlinum-mode, as it's supposedly faster
+  (global-nlinum-mode t))
 
 ;; enable y/n answers
 (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)