New to MacVector 13 is the ability to quickly test a pair of primers.
Previously to test a pair of primers with the Primer3 tool you needed to modify the expected product and reduce the stringency of all parameters so that your primers would be accepted.
Now when you enter a pair of primers into Design Primers (Primer3) the interface switches to a new testing mode, TEST PRIMER PAIRS. At this point all parameters are relaxed so that your primers are always accepted.
A new enhanced summary page then shows statistics about your primers.
All reaction conditions are now shared. so if you change [dNTP] in one tool they are changed and used for all other tools to achieve consistency of results.
.. and don’t forget that since MacVector 12.6 all the tools in MacVector use the Santa Lucia algorithm for calculating melting temperature of the primers. This algorithm by John SantaLucia (PNAS 95:1460-1465, 1998) has become widely accepted as producing the most accurate values for the melting temperature of DNA.