I am a bit of security expert myself!
pulls out screwdriver
In the past they had jumpers for the same purpose.
BIOS passwords have only ever been to deter unsophisticated attacks. Though this is more unsophisticated than the rest.
like just removing the battery to reset the CMOS
That hasn’t worked in a while, has it?
on DIY motherboards it still works like this
It’s a little difficult to reset the password if it’s lost otherwise.
Most motherboards store the password in SRAM along with all of the other BIOS settings. Removing or shorting the backup battery will clear everything.
Some motherboards store the password in non volatile memory. That's usually done in computers intended for business use. If you forget the password, you have to get a reset code from the manufacturer after proving that you are the owner of it.
It's even more trivial to remove the hard drive and read/write it directly, possibly even booting it on a separate system directly or in a virtual machine. BIOS passwords (on all x86 systems, not just Lenovo) provide very limited security benefits, but they can be sufficient for some basic security requirements.
Well right now it's more secure than a decade ago
Today a locked BIOS + strong windows password could render a stolen computer almost useless if:
Storage is encrypted with keys stored in the CPU tpm (default)
Nand is soldered
Secureboot is enforced strictly so only windows could boot (default)
Before locking the bios with a password, all booting options are disabled except internal storage
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