Paperwhite light, possible to disable?

No, you can't turn it off completely.

The last time I looked, I thought the official documentation was very careful not to say it could be turned off.  It danced around it.  I could be wrong, it's been awhile

Betsy

I really hope they patch that later. I'm pretty concerned about the effect on battery life. I like the light in the PW, but I don't often need it.

I keep the light on at the very lowest level or at just a few notches up; and never higher than 10...  I've been satisfied with my battery life.

The light does go off if you have one of the auto-sleep covers and close the cover.

Betsy

Agree with Betsy. . . .you can turn the light way way down; and remember the lights are LED which are extremely low power usage.  Also, as Betsy says, when the device goes to sleep -- on it's own, by pressing the button, or by closing the cover -- the light goes completely off.

I really don't think it's a huge thing to worry about in terms of battery usage.

I tend to run my light at about 5 in normal use, this is just enough to make the old kindle "greeny grey" background look white-ish, but not enough to be obtrusive.

If it's dark I'll turn it up to about 10 or so. Complete opposite to what Amazon recommend, I know, but it works for me.

I've not found battery life to me a problem at all. It lasts for long enough that I don't need to bother about it, like with my old K3.