Laptop Power Basics
When you put your MacBook Pro to sleep it begins writing the contents of whatever is on the RAM at that time to the hard drive. It does this to allow the computer to safely wake up after the event of the battery being removed or going dead unexpectedly while in sleep mode.
If the contents of the RAM are available as expected, a normal wake up should occur when you open the case or otherwise wake the machine back up. However, if the process of writing the RAM contents to disk is interrupted it can take a while for the computer to become responsive again.
Bottom line- if you put the computer to sleep and suddenly wake it up you've interrupted that normal process of writing a large amount of data from one place to another. It takes the laptop a while (sometimes a long while) to shake off this shock and become responsive again.
The solution is to allow the computer to fully finish going to sleep before waking it up again. You can tell when this has happened by the small light on the front-right of the computer. When it starts slowly pulsating that indicates it is safe to reawaken.
Upgrading RAM
If your laptop is a Late 2014 and newer, then it is unable to be upgraded as after those models Apple began soldering the RAM to the computers Mother Board. If your laptop is anything from Early 2013 and older then you are able to upgrade and replace the RAM in your machine.
A tool we recommend for ordering RAM is this website.
Simply enter in the manufacturer, product line, and model information and the website will give you the exact type of RAM your machine can be upgraded to and a means to order it.
If you need assistance with installing the RAM or ordering the RAM feel free to stop into Help Desk.