Weird graphic before login screen and laptop is VERY slow
Hello,
So I have an Early-2011 MacBook Pro 17". Lately (past 3 months) the computer has been slower (which is normal, it's getting older) but now it is just unbearably slow and for seemingly NO reason. I have meters on the menu bar that say there is pleny of RAM left and the processor is running at 2%-6%. I can't figure out for a single reason why this is happening, but it is EXTREMELY frustrating, since only 2.5 years ago I paid 3200$ for this computer.
Now there is a weird graphic that appears RIGHT before the login screen appears. I have attached a photo. I currently own an iPhone 5, iPad 4, iMac 20" (2008), MacBook Pro 17" (early 2011), and an iPod Touch 3rd Generation. I have had problems with almost all the products, but yet have remained a die-hard Apple fan. I'm beginning to question my affinity to Apple, because I could have purchased a 17" Windows computer for MUCH less and then just replaced it this year. Instead I thought this piece of junk would last me 6 years.... This is hardly looking like it will be the case, as I can barely do anything on it as of now.
It's an early-2011 MacBook Pro 17", with a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM and a 750GB Western Digital Black hard drive running at 7200RPM.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 with 8GB RAM