Came across this article online, which shows how to remove BIOS passwords from all Dell computer models:

www.tech-faq.com/dell-bios-password.shtml

I still come across places that either have no protection or stricly rely on BIOS passwords only.  Which is horrible!

ALL laptops should be running drive encryption on the hard disk.  If you are not, you should fix that.  You can use BitLocker which is included in Windows Vista Ultimate, or you can use third party apps such as TrueCrypt. 

Bios passwords are not enough.  Physical access to the system always wins.  There is no such thing as security when you have physical access to the system.