I usually carry my laptop everywhere with me, especially if there's no one to look after it for me. The thing I'm worried now is the house break-ins >.< Isn't it a bit extreme to hide in a pot or a kitchen cabinet every day? xD

if brand new laptop, the bios password definitely won't be activated. since you bought from your friend and if he is the first owner of the laptop, ask from him for the password. if he can't provide you with the password, high chance that your friend is a thief.

last time i used to put boot up password. meaning everytime i turn on the computer, before loading windows, will have to key in password. after 1 year, i felt that it's quite troublesome so i cancelled it. damn, after that some idiots broke into my house and stole my laptop.
if the password still activated, they couldn't do anything but have to change the motherboard. and as you know, the motherboard is the most expensive part of the laptop and can only be obtained from original manufacturer. before they could change the motherboard, hopefully you informed the company first and chance of retrieval is higher.

although this does not prevent your laptop from being stolen, it make sure that other than you, no one else can use the laptop.

If that the case
need to learn martial arts like tae kwon do or karate-do to fight the thief in the future
OR buy replica gun to shoot them
FYI, there's a lot of replica gun that can shoot
they look like a same, a bit lighter from the original gun/pistol & come with bullets
they even have shortgun somemore with bullets

just shoot them!