I have owned at least ten HP printers over the years. At one point I would buy the generic store cartridges for use and they work OK but sometimes the quality is not there. In fact for a presentation I was doing I used the generic brand and got streaking and color fading. With this HP 950XL combo pack I have gotten outstanding results. The color hues are just much sharper and it takes less ink. That has been my observation. The other factor to consider is that Staples often has great deals on name brand inks so it's worth it to get the HP brand. My son had to print out 25 handouts for a class and the print color was amazing and the ink consumption was minimal. I highly recommend HP ink cartridges.
I use these printer cartridges because it's cheaper to buy the black XL along with the color ink cartridges. I use these at my office with my HP OfficeJet Pro 8100 and they work fantastic. I don't have to change the cartridges that often and the price is reasonable. I also get more printing for my money than with any other printer cartridges.
Finally found a printer that has ink that lasts more than a month. Your printer salesman did a good job at recommending it. Now I use the HP 950 and 951. I just purchased the ink - first time since purchasing the printer in July. I do a lot of color printing and the quality is excellant. The printer is the HP Officejet Pro 8610.